Harckham: Leadership, Not Rhetoric Needed on Housing Settlement

The following is a letter to the editor written by Peter Harckham, County Legislator, 2nd District.

To The Editor:

One sure sign that campaign season is here is that County Executive Robert Astorino is sowing fear regarding the federal fair housing settlement and making inflammatory statements that he knows are patently untrue. Were this merely campaign rhetoric it would be bad enough, but his failed approach to managing the housing settlement has cost the taxpayers of Westchester millions of dollars.

Two federal courts have found that Mr. Astorino is in “unambiguous breach” of the federal housing settlement, resulting in the Department of Housing and Urban Development to withhold $7.4 Million in CDBG funding slated for Westchester communities. They have also steered storm relief funding to the State, rather than the County to distribute. Should the County not come back into compliance, fines and the original suit penalties could ensue, costing the taxpayers of Westchester hundreds of millions of dollars.

Yet rather than work constructively with the federal government to bridge the divide, the County Executive chooses highly choreographed events like the state of the county address or his recent ‘town hall’ meeting in Lewisboro to spread disinformation and sow fear. So concerned is the federal government about Mr. Astorino’s campaign of disinformation that on May 31st the Deputy Secretary of HUD Maurice Jones sent a letter to the County Board of Legislators refuting the County Executive’s false claims. Mr. Jones then appeared in Westchester in person on June 4th to again refute the County Executive’s statements.

Mr. Astorino contends that the federal government now wants the county to build 10,000 affordable housing units instead of the 750 units agreed to in the settlement. False. The 10,000 figure was arrived at in a study done by Rutgers University over a decade ago as a goal for the housing needs of Westchester. HUD has used that figure in discussions with the county in regards to future policy discussions but not in any way linked to the settlement. Said Jones, “HUD is not requiring the county to build this number units, but to use this study as a tool to examine how the eligible communities are contributing to meet the regional needs. Such an examination does not equate to a new funding mandate.”

Mr. Astorino also claims that the federal government is trying to dismantle local zoning in Westchester. False. Mr. Jones wrote, “HUD has never suggested that the County must ‘dismantle’ zoning in any neighborhood.” What the federal government wants is an acceptable analysis of impediments to fair and affordable housing. This request is not ‘outside the four corners’ of the settlement as the County Executive has often asserted. It is one of the central elements of the settlement and one of the requirements of any municipality accepting CDBG funding. This is also one of the two issues that the courts have cited Mr. Astorino for being out of compliance with the settlement.

To be sure, there are those individuals in the federal government who do not understand the unique obstacles to any housing development in northern Westchester, luxury or affordable - namely, the lack of large-scale wastewater treatment or municipal water. As in any negotiation, these issues should be dealt with constructively, not confrontationally.

Yet while Mr. Astorino spins his web of disinformation, he fails to share the positive developments. To date, over half of the total units the settlement calls for have funding in place and the county has already met the 2013 benchmarks. It should be noted that no county funding is committed until all local permits and approvals are in place. Further, more than two-thirds of the applicants signing up through the county website are already Westchester residents. If income qualified, local residents have the same opportunity through lottery to this housing as anyone else.

Elected officials have the obligation to lead constituents through difficult challenges, not to sow fear and misinformation. It is time for the County Executive to stop playing his dangerous game of chicken with the federal government and start being the statesman he was elected to be. The stakes for the residents of Westchester are to grave for him to deliver less.

Sincerely,

Pete Harckham
Majority Leader
Westchester County Legislator, 2nd L.D