Rockland County and Spring Valley named in federal lawsuit about affordable housing
A federal lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Department of Justice claims Rockland county and the Village of Spring Valley are in breach of an agreement which set a number of affordable housing units that were supposed to be made and by when.
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A federal lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Department of Justice claims Rockland County and the Village of Spring Valley are in breach of an agreement about the timing and number of affordable housing units that were supposed to created.
The agreement reached with the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2018 was to create 62 units in seven years.
The deadline was changed in 2021 because of COVID-19. By that time, Rockland had only made four units.
The lawsuit came because HUD felt the the county and the village didn't appear to be in a position to meet future affordable housing deadlines.
The relief requested in this legal action looks to enforce the agreement, assess civil penalties and more.
This suit stems from complaints made to HUD about a private developer who used federal grant money to build dozens of condos but went against requirements by designing and marketing those units to white Hasidic Jewish homebuyers and not the Black community.
It also claims Rockland County and Spring Valley knew this in 2010 and 2012 but failed to act.
A Rockland County government spokesperson released the following statement in response:
"This lawsuit flagrantly mischaracterizes the County’s actions and attitudes and alleges facts that have never occurred. The County has never discriminated in any aspect of housing development, funding, construction or sales.
It is important to clarify that the underlying issue of this lawsuit stems from the Village of Spring Valley’s misuse of $102,438 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding which they received in 2004 and for actions that took place between 2006 and 2016, primarily before County Executive Ed Day's administration took office. Once the County was made aware of this misuse, we assisted in filing the original Fair Housing complaint and the funding was recovered by this administration in 2014.
Certain HUD officials acted as unrealistic activists rather than professionals seeking an attainable goal placed ludicrous demands on the County in the VCA including requiring a 150-year affordability period for new units (well beyond the 30-year industry standard), forcing construction of units within the dysfunctional Village of Spring Valley and setting an unrealistic timeline for unit construction (in a best-case scenario it takes 5-7 years to design, finance, and construct affordable housing units from start to finish).
The County has been and will continue to be focused on increasing fair and affordable housing in Rockland. To date the County has committed nearly $30 million in funding to the creation and preservation of affordable housing. We are also preparing to seek proposals to redevelop the County-owned 3.6-acre Sain Building site in New City into mixed-use commercial and residential workforce housing.
Regardless of the underlying issues, the County will continue to engage with HUD in good faith and we remain committed to compliance with the spirit of the VCA and support for fair and affordable housing that benefits all residents."
While News 12 is still waiting to hear back from Spring Valley the suit says the village claims to have built affordable housing but has not provided proof to HUD.
