HUD Settlement: Westchester's Zoning Not 'Exclusionary'

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Westchester County’s affordable housing settlement the federal government has been resolved in favor of the county after seven years. County Executive Robert Astorino announced that the county was vindicated at a Tuesday press conference, saying that the Department of Housing and Urban Development withdrew its objections to Westchester’s review of obstacles to fair housing — analysis of impediments, or AI — in a one-paragraph letter Friday. In the letter, Jay Golden, HUD’s regional administrator of the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, said the county’s AI has “been deemed acceptable.”

Astorino said this was proof that the county’s zoning isn’t exclusionary because it was a fact that units are being built under current local zoning.

He said this was vindication for the county and local municipalities and was a victory won on facts and principles.

“From the beginning, my administration has been committed to meeting the county’s obligations under the settlement,” Astorino said.

“But we also said that we were not going to be bullied by HUD into doing things that were not in the settlement,” he said.

Astorino said HUD had no reason to intrude in legitimate local zoning, and the county was able to successfully defend the constitutional principle of home rule and meet the settlement’s requirements.

The county met the settlement’s primary benchmark in December: having financing and building permits in place for 750 units. There are another 100 units in the pipeline, the county said.

Astorino said the next goal was to wrap up the settlement and that included bringing the expense of paying for the federal monitor assigned to the case to an end. The current monitor, Stephen C. Robinson, is a former federal judge and partner in the New York City law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He bills at a rate of $675 an hour, but unlike the previous monitor his fees are not capped at $175,000 a year.

“Given our success and where we are now, there is just no need for the monitor anymore, nor justification for the expense,” Astorino said. “The idea behind the settlement was to build affordable homes, not pay lawyers.”

Now, with the AI approved and the housing units benchmark achieved, the remaining outstanding item is for the county to complete its outreach campaign on the benefits of diversity and affordable housing.

The county has spent more than $1 million on marketing and outreach, well above the settlement’s $400,000 requirement.

Called “One Community,” the campaign is underway and scheduled to run throughout the year in print, on radio and cable and through social media advertisements.

Westchester has spent about $30 million more in compliance than the $51.6 million required under the terms of the settlement.

Astorino said the county has leveraged more than $172 million in other public funding, putting total subsidies at $233 million. That makes the average taxpayer subsidy per settlement unit at approximately $290,000.

The Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors said the 2016 median sale price in Westchester $640,000 for a single-family home, $357,750 for a condo and $153,000 for a co-op.

About 425 of settlement units are already occupied. Roughly a third are owned; about two-thirds are rentals.

Board of Legislators Chairman Mike Kaplowitz said he hasn’t always agreed with Astorino’s approach to the settlement, which was signed by former Executive Andrew Spano and approved by the Legislators in 2009, but said it was a positive day for the county.

He said the county will continue working with Astorino to build more affordable housing in all of Westchester’s communities.

“This resolution to the AI does not mark the end of the affordable housing issue in Westchester County,” Kaplowitz said. “A lack of affordable housing remains one of the most challenging dilemmas we face in this region.”

Photo caption: County Executive Robert Astorino at Tuesday's press conference. Photo credit: Submitted.