Spano Calls For Affordable Housing Program Audit In Wake Of Scandal

YONKERS, NY — On Thursday, Mayor Mike Spano said he is asking the Yonkers Inspector General to conduct a random audit of the 277 homes that are part of the city's Affordable Housing Program to determine if there are any participants who are fraudulently claiming their home as their primary residence and if they are illegally subletting them.

The mayor said that he is taking this action in part because of the recent allegation that County Legislator Christopher Johnson is maintaining ownership of an affordable taxpayer-subsidized apartment on North Broadway, despite having purchased an $800,000 house on Rose Hill Terrace in the Homecrest neighborhood of Yonkers that he is also reportedly claiming as a primary residence.

"You can’t have two primary residences any more than you can have two primary marriages or two primary birthplaces," Spano said. "Primary means one, pure and simple. Unfortunately, Legislator Johnson’s apparent abuse of this program requires that we make sure this is an isolated case and not widespread."

According to the mayor's office, the Yonkers Department of Planning & Development and the Yonkers Fair Housing Implementation Office facilitated the purchase of single-family homes and apartments in the city for lower income renters as part of the settlement of a housing desegregation lawsuit. Between the early 1990s and the early 2000s, an estimated 270 housing units were made affordable with a second mortgage from Yonkers that would be forgiven after 30 years of occupancy. The mortgage required that the household maintain the home as their primary residence, be first-time homebuyers and not sublet the dwelling. If the housing unit was sold before the sunset of the mortgage, the home must be sold at a price affordable to the same income group as the owner originally was in when they came into the program.

Around 90 percent of the participants submit an annual certification verifying their primary residence to Yonkers. The city said it does not verify the accuracy of the certifications.

"By conducting a random audit we can assure the taxpayers who subsidized these homes that the recipients are actually living there and are not illegally subletting them while living elsewhere," Spano said.

The call for a crackdown comes as a lawmaker is accused of doing just that.

"When the public reads about an elected official apparently violating the terms of a program designed to give people a chance to own a home, they immediately wonder who else might be gaming the system," Spano said. "I have no evidence that anyone else is, and I hope they aren’t, but a random audit can provide the public with the assurances that they deserve."

Earlier this week, Yonkers City Councilwoman Shanae Verice Williams called on the US Attorney and NYS Attorney General's offices to investigate Johnson in connection to the two homes he owns using federal mortgage programs.

In 2010, Johnson purchased the affordable housing condo located on North Broadway in the 16th Legislative District, certifying on May 31, 2022 that it was his primary residence. However, on June 10, 2022, when he closed on his new house on Rosehill Terrace in the 15th Legislative District, he signed a document stating it was his primary residence, according to Williams' allegations.

"While there is a housing shortage and affordable housing crisis facing our nation, it is troubling to see County Legislator Johnson allege two residences to try to fool Federal Housing programs," Williams said in a statement released this week. "He lied on official documents when he alleged both 421 North Broadway and 34 Rosehill Terrace to be his primary residence. We need to have faith in our elected officias to have integrity and it is evidently clear that Christopher A. Johnson's fraudulent activities warrant a full investigation."

According to the Westchester County charter, legislators must live in the district where they were elected.

Williams, who is a candidate also running for the District 16 Legislator seat, told CBS News that "he knows that the law says that you're supposed to live in your district. He knows that it's a violation and you'll be forfeiting your seat to move out of the district that you were elected to serve. But instead he goes online and he's unraveling and he's blaming everyone else."

Johnson told the Journal News that he sleeps on a couch at the affordable housing condo occasionally and that he is allowing a relative and the relative's girlfriend to live in the unit.

The Yonkers Inspector General, Liam McLaughlin, told CBS News "the individual is supposed to reside in the unit for which they've gotten the benefits. So if they're no longer residing there, then there's an issue."

While not addressing the allegations specifically, Johnson described the investigation as politically motivated.

"The city's IG is Liam McLaughlin, former Republican council president, former colleague of mine, got his job from the mayor — this is politics at its worst, politics at its ugliest," Johnson said in part in a social media post on Wednesday. "When you see your political enemies weaponize their positions, weaponize their friends. If you just check the inspector general's reports, you'll see that there's nothing of substance there. He hasn't issued one report that says anything important, that says anything real, that improves the lives of people here in the city of Yonkers ... It's pretty much his record as well when he was on the Yonkers city council ... Whatever ridiculous investigation or story they're going to put out next against me. I want you guys to know that this is what happens, this is what it looks like when you push back. This is what it looks like when you're an independent voice."