SPRING VALLEY – A federal fair housing lawsuit settlement will bring 22 units of affordable rental housing to the village over the next five years.
The agreement aims to fix an earlier failure to complete affordable housing projects that were ordered as a remedy to a past Fair Housing Act violation.
In that case, a private developer used U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds to build 62 condominiums that were supposed to be affordable units. The developer subsequently marketed units almost exclusively to white Hasidic Jewish prospective homebuyers, according to complaints.
In 2017, the Spring Valley NAACP and Park View Condominiums reached a financial settlement over a 2013 complaint under the Fair Housing Act alleging the then-owners discriminated against potential buyers who were not ultra-Orthodox Jews based on their race, religion and national origin.
Singling out a sector of people for HUD housing is a violation of federal law.
The agreement between the village and HUD was approved March 4 by U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Seibel.
A lawsuit remains pending against Rockland County.
Rockland officials on March 5 said the county and other parties continue to work toward a resolution with assistance of the federal court.
“I applaud the commitment of the Village of Spring Valley to build more affordable housing as part of this resolution,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.
Remedy for Spring Valley housing complaint failed to materialize
The March 4 deal, announced by the U.S. State Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, aims to resolve a lawsuit over the village’s earlier breach of an agreement.
The village and county were accused of knowing of allegations that the developer was excluding certain homebuyers, but failed to ensure remedial steps were taken before the project was completed and the units were sold, according to the U.S. Attorney.
In 2018, a Voluntary Compliance Agreement and Conciliation Agreement under the Fair Housing Act was made, which required the construction of 62 units of affordable housing. The VCA was amended in 2021 to give Spring Valley and Rockland County more time to complete the required units. But by 2025, only four qualifying affordable units had been built.
The current remedy? The village’s deal to bring 22 affordable units online by the end of 2030.
Units will be required to be occupied by households with incomes at or below 75% of the Area Median Income for Rockland County; units must remain affordable for at least 50 years.
The agreement also requires Spring Valley to ensure appropriate monitoring of HUD grantees and institute training for village employees regarding federal requirements.
Spring Valley also agreed to pay a $15,000 civil penalty.
Rockland says county acted to address misuse
According to federal officials, the HUD funds used were overseen by Spring Valley and Rockland County.
A Rockland spokesperson said the county has never discriminated in any aspect of housing development, funding, construction or sales.
“Unfortunately, this lawsuit mischaracterizes the county’s actions and attitudes and alleges facts that have never occurred,” Rockland spokesperson Beth Cefalu said.
Cefalu said if a resolution couldn’t be reached, the county would defend itself, “including demonstrating that it was HUD that failed to meet its obligations.”
The funds, approved back in 2004, were misused by a private developer, county officials contend. “Once the county was made aware of this misuse, we assisted in filing the original Fair Housing complaint,” Cefalu said. The funding was recovered by Rockland administration in 2014.
Rockland is committed to creating and preserving affordable housing, Cefalu said, pointing to an ongoing plan to redevelop the county-owned Sain Building site in New City into mixed-use commercial and residential workforce housing.
Spring Valley Mayor Schenley Vital, who took office in December 2025, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Spring Valley, a village of about 35,000, encompasses wide diversity, from Latin American to Haitian and Caribbean to a growing Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish community, living together in around 2 square miles.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Spring Valley building 22 affordable rentals to fix fair housing suit
Reporting by Nancy Cutler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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