Astorino relents on housing voucher legislation

With the threat of contempt of court charges hanging over his head, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said he will ask county lawmakers to revisit legislation requiring private landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers for rent.

In a letter sent to Astorino on Wednesday, U.S. District Attorney for New York's Southern Region Preet Bharara informed the Republican leader that he must comply with a May 3 federal court order or face contempt of court proceedings.

Thursday, Astorino sent a letter to James Johnson, a federal monitor overseeing the housing discrimination case, informing him that his administration was prepared to comply with the court order to reconsider the controversial legislation.

On May 3, Manhattan Federal Judge Denise Cote ruled that Astorino "is failing to comply" with the terms of a 2009 settlement with the Department of Housing and Urban Development concerning housing discrimination within the county.

Cote's 28-page ruling said Astorino's veto violated one of the key provisions of the pact, which required the county to "promote" legislation that mandates that private property owners accept Section 8 government vouchers.

Astorino appealed that decision to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and told the feds that he had no intention of resubmitting the legislation on government vouchers until the county exhausted all of its legal remedies.

On Wednesday, however, Astorino relented.

"I strongly believe that our position will be upheld on appeal and it is therefore appropriate to await the decision of the Second Circuit," Astorino said in the letter to Johnson. "However, given the District Court's most current order, I am left with no choice but to ask the Board of Legislators to reintroduce the prior source of income legislation."

In 2010, Astorino vetoed the so-called "source of income" legislation that was approved by the county Legislature.

Bharara argues that Astorino is trying to avoid complying with the settlement, which stems from a 2007 lawsuit filed against the county by the Manhattan-based Anti-Discrimination Center and settled by his predecessor, Andy Spano.

"In effect, the county seeks to grant itself a stay of the May 3 order, a stay that, as you know, has been denied by the district court and the court of appeals," Bharara wrote in Wednesday's letter to Astorino.

Later Thursday, Astorino issued a statement that argued "it would have made much more common sense for the government to wait until the Second Circuit rules in the case."

"To compel an elected official to sign legislation sight unseen and to give up his or her responsibility to vote his conscience goes against everything our country stands for," he added.

The county could have faced hefty fines if a federal judge declared it in contempt of court.

The settlement also required the county to build 750 affordable housing units in predominantly white communities.

A special magistrate upheld Astorino's veto decision in a March 16 ruling, but HUD appealed the decision.

Astorino argues that the county is fulfilling the terms of the settlement, with many of the required housing units already financed. He contends that HUD is overreaching its authority by requiring that property owners take Section 8 vouchers for housing and that the county dismantle exclusionary zoning laws in its towns and villages.

To date, HUD officials have withheld about $12 million in affordable housing funding as a result of Astorino's stance.

Legislative chairman Ken Jenkins, who supports HUD's position on Section 8 housing vouchers, told Newsday Thursday night that the onus was on the Astorino administration to resubmit the proposed legislation.

"We already submitted legislation to the county executive, and he vetoed it," the Yonkers Democrat said. "We're not going to submit the same legislation that he had a problem with the last time. He needs to send us something."