Rockland County, Spring Valley Sued Over Affordable Housing Delays

The federal government has filed a lawsuit against Rockland County and the Village of Spring Valley, claiming they haven’t complied with a 2018 agreement to create 62 new affordable housing units.

The complaint was filed Jan. 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In the lawsuit, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York claims the county and village are in violation of a March 2018 affordable housing agreement.

The lawsuit seeks to have the terms of the agreement enforced, including specific deadlines for getting more affordable units online, and for the county and village to face financial penalties for failing to comply.

The 2018 agreement resolved two complaints previously filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Those prior complaints claimed a private developer used HUD grant funding to build 62 condominium units, but designed those units and community spaces to cater to white Hasidic Jewish homebuyers and marketed them to that population. According to the government, the developer failed to market the units to the entire community, which excluded Black homebuyers.

Rockland County and Spring Valley were recipients of the HUD grant funding, while the private developer was a subrecipient, according to the lawsuit.

“Spring Valley and Rockland County became aware of allegations that the developer was excluding interested Black homebuyers as of 2010 and 2012, respectively, but failed to ensure that appropriate remedial steps were taken before the project was completed and the units were sold,” the lawsuit says.

To resolve HUD’s concerns about the handling of the original 62-unit condominium project, the county and village entered into the 2018 agreement with the federal government.

Under the 2018 agreement, Rockland County and Spring Valley agreed to make sure a different group of 62 affordable housing units would be developed or rehabilitated during a seven-year period. These new 62 units were subject to affordability requirements and affirmative marketing, the lawsuit shows.

About 25 of the new affordable units had to be completed within a three year period. To date, only four of the 62 units have been finished, the government claims, in the lawsuit.

In February 2021, HUD gave the county and village an extension, which required them to ensure the completion of 18 more affordable units by March 2023. The lawsuit claims none of these have been finished. It also claims the county and village seem unlikely to meet an upcoming deadline of 15 of the affordable housing units finished by March 2025.

Beth Cefalu, a spokeswoman for Rockland County, said the lawsuit stems from the Village of Spring Valley’s “misuse” of $102,438 in Community Development Block Grant funding it received in 2004, and for actions between 2006 and 2016. She noted that much of this happened before County Executive Ed Day’s tenure, as he was first elected in 2013.

According to Cefalu, once the county became aware of the situation, it assisted in filing the original Fair Housing complaint, and the administration recovered the funding in 2014.

“The county has never discriminated in any aspect of housing development, funding, construction or sales,” Cefalu said, via a statement.

The county asserted in the statement that some HUD officials have set an “unrealistic” timeline for unit construction. According to the county, it can take up to seven years to design, finance and construct affordable housing units.

“The county has been and will continue to be focused on increasing fair and affordable housing in Rockland,” Cefalu said, in the statement. “To date the county has committed nearly $30 million in funding to the creation and preservation of affordable housing.”

According to Cefalu, the county is 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.

“The county will continue to engage with HUD in good faith, and we remain committed to compliance with the spirit of the (2018 agreement) and support for fair and affordable housing that benefits all residents,” Cefalu said.

Spring Valley Mayor Alan Simon could not be reached for comment.