African American clergy and elected officials gathered in Harlem on Sunday to say they'd joined a lawsuit against Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino. The lawsuit claims Astorino is refusing to enforce an anti-discrimination law that requires affordable housing be built throughout the county, as interpreted by HUD, the federal housing agency.
But Jessica Proud, a spokeswoman for Astorino's gubernatorial campaign, replied that the lawsuit actually supports "the federal government's attempt to take over control of Westchester's local zoning." And, she added, Astorino is opposed to that.
Proud also pointed out that, "As Westchester residents are well aware, there have been no findings of discrimination in any of the communities and County Executive Astorino is ahead of schedule in building affordable housing."
At the Harlem press conference, Democratic Assemblyman Gary Pretlow said the rate of building new units was not the issue, but that affordable housing was going up in largely non-white parts of Yonkers and his district of Mount Vernon. He claimed the 2009 agreement that required the units envisioned the spread of affordable housing to affluent white communities like Bronxville and Scarsdale.
"By the county's actions, it's really fostering segregation and that's something we're trying to get away from," Pretlow said. "Too many years has this country been segregated and it's time to stop it."
State Senator Ruth Hassell Thompson said affordable housing is not low-income housing, yet it was being clustered in poor parts of Westchester. "I'm talking about affordable for firefighters and teachers in the towns where they work," she said. "Too often they work there but can't live there."
Astorino, the Republican candidate for governor, has claimed to HUD that market forces prevent affordable housing from going up in some areas and that, in other towns, local zoning regulations prevent such development. So far, HUD has disagreed with Astorino's assessment.
Governor Cuomo hasn't yet taken a position on the issue, although Astorino's spokeswoman Proud saw his hand behind the Sunday press conference in Harlem.
“Andrew Cuomo once again dispatched his political cronies in an attempt to mislead voters," she said in a statement approved by Astorino. "It’s time for Governor Cuomo to stop his vicious mudslinging and tell New Yorkers whether or not he agrees with his old agency, HUD, that the federal government should have control over local zoning.”
