A Tale of Fraud and Discrimination at Westchester County

If you live in Westchester County, get ready for public housing and higher taxes at a town near you. County residents will be forced to pay the price for the fraudulent actions of County Executive Andrew Spano, who was caught red handed in an embarrassing scheme that defrauded the Federal government of $180 million.

In February 2009, a Federal Court Judge found Westchester County an “utter failure” when it comes to access to fair housing and that Westchester County provided “false or fraudulent” documentation to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) amounting to racial discrimination.

After six months of settlement negotiations between Spano, his attorneys and the U.S. Justice Department and HUD, the parties announced a settlement agreement in August 2009 to the dismay and surprise of the County Legislature and the public.

The agreement will force the County to build 750 units of fair and affordable housing in virtually every part of the County and pay $62.5 million in the process. The massive project will usurp property rights of the individual, abort local zoning laws and environmental constraints, and give funds back to the same politicians that were derelict in the first place.

I have read a different version of this lawsuit which faults the Obama administrations radical vision of America, not any fraud by Spano. This analysis makes a lot more sense given what I know of Westchester (I live there), and the history of the area and the Obama track record.

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Color-Coding the Suburbs

The social engineers come to Scarsdale.

The bad news is that Westchester County, the sprawling suburb just north of New York City, has been pressured to settle a federal lawsuit brought by liberal activists over “affordable” housing. The worse news is that the Obama Administration wants the settlement to be a template for the rest of the nation.

The three-year-old lawsuit alleged that Westchester had accepted federal housing funds but failed to provide enough affordable housing and reduce segregation in some of its wealthier communities, such as Scarsdale and Chappaqua, home to Bill and Hillary Clinton. In February a U.S. District Court judge in Manhattan ruled that Westchester’s integration efforts were insufficient, and rather than risk losing out on more federal money, county officials struck a deal with the Department of Housing and Urban Development this week. Within seven years, the county will construct or acquire 750 homes or apartments, 630 of which must be located in communities that are less than 3% black and 7% Hispanic.

“We’re clearly messaging other jurisdictions across the country that there has been a significant change in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and we’re going to ask them to pursue similar goals as well,” said HUD Deputy Secretary Ron Sims. Westchester County, he added, “can serve as a model for building strong, inclusive sustainable communities in suburban areas across the entire United States.”

Westchester officials admit no wrongdoing, which isn’t surprising given that prior to the lawsuit HUD not only had never denied the county funds but had praised its housing practices. The bigger concern, however, is the Obama Administration’s intention to promote housing polices that have a history of dividing communities and creating racial tension. Integrated neighborhoods are an admirable goal, but how you get there matters.

In the 1960s, Chicago’s Gautreaux Program moved several thousand inner-city residents to the suburbs over the objections of whites and black community leaders alike, which stoked racial unrest and resulted in unprecedented “white flight.” In the 1970s, the Philadelphia suburb of Mount Laurel, New Jersey, was ordered to build subsidized housing. Local opposition was so strong that municipalities ultimately were permitted to pay into a fund and have much of the housing built in places like Newark and Camden instead.

Blacks have long populated Westchester towns such as White Plains, New Rochelle and Mount Vernon, and the Administration is assuming that low percentages of racial and ethnic minorities in places like Scarsdale are a result of discrimination. Yet there’s no pattern of fair housing complaints or other evidence showing that black families with incomes similar to whites in more upscale neighborhoods were barred from those jurisdictions. History also demonstrates that racial and ethnic minorities have incurred far less resistance when they move into neighborhoods where they can afford to live.

The black and Latino suburban population is increasing steadily as the household incomes of those groups rise. But social engineers who want to force the issue risk creating more problems than they solve. Most people believe in integrated neighborhoods provided they’re a consequence of genuine choice, not the government deciding where it wants people to live.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203863204574346862154177606.html

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