Westchester County Settles Housing Case

MANHATTAN (CN) - Wealthy Westchester County will spend $60 million on low-income housing and submit to court monitoring to settle a fair housing complaint filed by the Department of Justice. Federal prosecutors said the county knew for nearly a decade that its cities racially and ethnically discriminated in housing and subjected minorities to "repeated instances of intolerance and discrimination," but the little affordable housing it allowed "perpetuated or increased racial and ethnic separation."

Under the settlement agreement, Westchester County must spend $30 million to build 750 affordable housing units, and pay the federal government another $30 million, a substantial portion of which thereafter will be made available again to the County for housing development."

The mean price for detached houses in Westchester County was $741,000 in 2007; median household income was $77,220; the cost of living was 156 on a scale where 100 is the U.S. average; and the county is 64 percent white, according to City-Data.com.

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