Scarsdale Trustees Begin Work on Mandated Affordable Housing

In a joint meeting of the Law and Land Use committees, Scarsdale village trustees stepped gingerly into the world of mandated affordable housing created when Westchester County settled a federal discrimination lawsuit in 2009.

Scarsdale is one of the communities targeted by the suit and the settlement, which requires the county to actively promote affordable housing in areas with very low proportions of black and Hispanic residents.

The Anti-Discrimination Center sued the county last year, and a federal judge ruled Westchester had "utterly failed" to provide what the court calls "fair housing." The court ruled Westchester didn't provide fair housing despite taking federal money—not only did the county not build enough affordable homes, but it failed to follow rules that say those units must be built in otherwise ethnically monochrome neighborhoods.

Westchester has a dozen towns where African Americans make up fewer than one percent of the population, and another eight towns where they're less than two percent of the population, said Craig Gurian, executive director of the Anti-Discrimination Center. But according to recent census estimates, African Americans are 14 percent of the overall population here.

"The county is just characterized by racial segregation," Gurian said. "And there's been an unwillingness to recognize that."

Westchester has had a year to comply with the federal court order to build 750 fair housing units in the next seven years. On Aug. 9 it submitted its third plan after the previous two had been rejected. One former county plan involved building fair housing units on a street with a psychiatric facility and a veteran's administration, but no homes. But the language in the consent decree is specific -- the county is required to build affordable housing, and it's required to put most of the units in uniformly white towns and neighborhoods. Only 25 percent can converted from existing housing, and only 25 percent can be senior-citizen housing.

The federal monitor—who has already rejected two of the county's proposals to redress the problem—is evaluating a third. Some observers think the court may step in and impose its own plan.

Wednesday night the committees' members made clear to the small audience that all their deliberations were tentative, as there is no formal plan in place.

Also, the trustees pointed out, neither the settlement nor the county's proposals name specific communities.

However, said Trustee Richard Toder, under the current proposal, the county would take legal action against any municipality that hinders or impedes the development of affordable housing.

Mayor Carolyn Stevens said she had been attending a series of meetings with other Westchester municipal officials, including one with representatives from the county and federal monitor.

"One of the things that has been continuously reiterated through all the sessions is that the county does not intend to sue any community over its zoning codes, however it will look to have communities adopt the model code," she said. "The other thing they have been very insistent on is there are no quotas for any community—but they are looking to communities to be creative."

Stevens said other communities are acting quickly and even having individual discussions with the federal monitor.

"A lot of communities are moving on this. They're very enthusiastic about having some of these homes or rental units built," she said, sparking a discussion about other municipal officials' motives.

"I think what's happening is that municipalities that have put in proposals, they work with the monitor to approve it, so you are able to go forward if the monitor approves," said Trustee Katherine Eisenman.

Stevens said the Realm assisted-living project, which is in the early stages of seeking financing, might count. It is proposed for Saxon Woods Road near the White Plains border. Existing apartments above stores on Garth Road might be among the possibilities for a multi-pronged approach.

However, Trustee Miriam Flisser argued, it is too early to discuss specific locations in the village where existing or new housing could be counted toward Scarsdale's share.

Land values are at the root of the problem for Scarsdale, trustees and audience members agreed as they did the math.

The county's draft plan would commit some money to help subsidize construction of some of the new units. Plus, some of the $51 million in that pool is earmarked for financing. That amount will not go far toward the cost of land, much less the infrastructure and construction of more than 500 units—particularly in built-out communities where land is expensive.

Toder began the meeting by urging that the village get underway.

"I would like to be ahead of the truck and not under it," he said. "It makes sense to study whether there are acceptable sites. At least showing a willingness to study puts you ahead of the curve."

Others weren't so sure. While the county awaits the federal monitor's decision, the committees decided to proceed on two items.

The consensus was to ask staff to look into the county's proposed model zoning code. Administrators are to report back in two months with information on how it compares to Scarsdale's zoning code. They are to recommend both changes the village might want to propose to the county and federal monitor and ways the village's code could conform.

The trustees also asked staff also to find out what Census blocks in Scarsdale are ineligible for affordable housing under the county's proposal.