The Monitor filed his latest report with the federal court late afternoon on July 7th. Among his findings was the fact that:
The County uses the term "fair and affordable" throughout its submissions to the Monitor, as well as on its website. Although this term at first may appear to address the County's AFFH [affirmatively furthering fair housing] obligations under the [consent decree], the County also uses the label on its website to describe housing developments that completely lack an AFFH component...The term "fair and affordable" conflates fair housing with affordable housing and obscures the County's obligations to AFFH.
The Monitor had specific direction for Westchester:
Going forward, the County should use the precise language of the [consent decree] -- "Affordable AFFH Units" -- when referring to the housing it is required to develop under the Stipulation. The distinction is not merely semantic. Clarity is vital to the public's understanding of, and confidence in, the County's efforts to meet its obligations under the [consent decree].
Not 24 hours later, Westchester County's website had posted a statement, quoting the County Executive as stating that, ""The monitor's thoughtful comments are welcome," and that developing an implementation plan is "an evolving process and we are committed to developing an implementation plan that will deliver on the goal of bringing 750 units of fair and affordable housing to the market within the next seven years."
The County statement went on to say that "the county Planning Board is scheduled to consider making a recommendation to the county Board of Legislators for funding approval for 18 fair and affordable housing units in the City of Rye."
In other words, Westchester reviewed the Monitor's thoughtful comments and then... promptly ignored his direction to cease using the obfuscating "fair and affordable" phrase.
Note, too, that in summarizing the areas covered by the Monitor's report, the County statement not coincidentally omitted mention of the "Relationships with Municipalities; Incentives and Penalties" section, a portion of the Monitor's report that points out, among other things:
that the County's revised submission "continues to demonstrate a lack of creativity as to how the County plans to encourage municipalities to comply with the terms" of the consent decree; and
- that the consent decree "explicitly states that the County 'shall use all available means as appropriate,' including 'pursuing legal action,' to address a municipality’s failure to act to promote the objectives of paragraph 7 (which lays out the general requirements for the required AFFH units), or actions that hinder those objectives," but that the County's revised submission "contains merely a recitation of this requirement, rather than any meaningful exploration of what shape such legal action might take."
Westchester's full statement is available here.