Feds: Garden City must remedy housing discrimination
Amsterdam News
A federal court judge ordered the village of Garden City, N.Y., to change its housing practices in order to remedy years of intentional discrimination against non-whites.
Judge Arthur D. Spatt of the Eastern District of New York entered the final judgment in the discriminatory zoning case brought by the organization New York Communities for Change and affordable housing developer MHANY Management against the village of Garden City, located on Long Island.
Under the ruling, Garden City has to conduct annual in-person training for all elected officials and housing employees and enact a Fair Housing Resolution to assure equal opportunities when it comes to housing. Also, the village is required to hire an independent third party compliance officer and pay for all remedial measures.
The judgment comes on the heels of Spatt’s late December decision, which stated that Garden City had violated the Fair Housing Act, the United States Constitution and other civil rights statues when it enacted a zoning ordinance in 2004 in response to public pressure to keep minority households out of the village. The court found that the practice allowed Garden City to remain a white enclave surrounded by mostly minority towns.
http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2014/may/08/feds-garden-city-must-remedy-housing-discriminatio/