Housing Lawsuit - SuffolkJournal.com

Federal Housing Lawsuit Filed
Against Huntington
by Jane Lee Bock

May 17, 2002

On May 8th, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against the Town of Huntington, and a developer on behalf of the Fair Housing in Huntington Committee, Inc. (FHHC), and African-American and white residents of the Town of Huntington by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the Boston Bar Association. The lawsuit alleges unlawful housing discrimination on the part of Huntington and SBJ Associates, the developer of the soon-to-be built Greens at Half Hollow.

"We cannot permit Huntington to build only luxury and elderly housing on the last large parcel of undeveloped residential housing land in what appears to be a clear effort to maintain its racially segregated housing," said Cheryl L. Ziegler, Director of Housing and Community Development at the Lawyers' Committee.

The complainants are seeking to enjoin the town "from engaging in policies or practices that deprive" them of their rights [to live in a segregated area], and want the town to withdraw the building permits it issued to SBJ thereby halting construction at the Greens. They also ask for undisclosed compensatory and punitive damages, among other things.

The lawsuit claims that Huntington's "long history" of discriminatory housing practices have culminated in the exclusion of minority families from its overwhelmingly white neighborhoods in violation of various civil rights laws. The plaintiffs filed this lawsuit because they believe the town, acting in concert with SBJ Associates, is "continuing" a pattern and practice of maintaining segregated housing by excluding affordable family housing from the Greens at Half Hollow, which is being built on the former site of the Long Island Developmental Center ("LIDC") - the single largest remaining tract of undeveloped, residentially-zoned property in Huntington.

"I am disappointed that Huntington continues to engage in practices that maintain racial housing segregation," said Bernard Peyton, President of FHHC and a Melville resident. Peyton's complaint states because of the town's actions he has "been denied the opportunity to live in an integrated community by the discriminatory practices of the town." The complaint states that no support for placement of affordable family housing has been offered for the town's "white" areas and that affordable housing has only been constructed or planned for parts of the town already segregated.

There are several senior housing projects in the town, most notably Paumanack Village in Greenlawn and the Knolls in Melville, and zoning for senior housing is perfectly legal. In addition, there are no "racial" components to the qualifying criteria for purchasing or renting the available senior housing.

The complaint states however, that these communities "are so overwhelmingly white that, despite offering these units at affordable prices, the proportion of minority residents there is actually smaller than in Huntington generally." Therefore, the plaintiffs claim, senior housing has actually increased segregation in the town.

The complaint also states that one in nine Huntington residents is African-American or Hispanic and those populations are concentrated in specific areas of the town because they cannot afford to purchase or rent properties elsewhere in the town.

The complaint dismissed the viability of other affordable housing projects, such as the 100-unit Klar project in Huntington Station and Millennium Hills in Melville, a Huntington Housing Authority project still in the development stages, because one was constructed in an already segregated area and the other has not yet been funded. As for a planned project in East Northport which was the subject of another federal lawsuit more than 10 years ago, the complaint described this as a "white" area. That project stalled due to lack of funding as well. As a result of that case, Huntington was ordered to amend its zoning laws to allow that affordable housing development.

In this action, the plaintiffs are asking the court to stop "Huntington's on-going discriminatory conduct and to require the inclusion of family housing at the Greens at Half Hollow development," a site originally zoned for less than 200 homes but afforded a density bonus to build 1,375 age-restricted units at costs starting in the mid-$700,000's to over $1 million. There is supposed to be an affordable rental component of that project, but again, it is limited to seniors.