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A continuing legal dispute over Westchester’s additional obligations under the 2009 consent decree centers on whether it has forced towns and villages to change exclusionary zoning. The agreement gave the county broad powers to sue towns that failed to make way for affordable housing, but the county has said such actions were not necessary…
A recent report prepared by Andrew A. Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College and prominent demographer, found that 19 of the 31 communities cited in the agreement continued to discriminate against minorities by virtue of restrictive zoning, namely ordinances that do not allow for adequate amounts of multifamily housing without a special permit.
“The monitor is sending a message to a court that there are these few outlier towns and villages that are exclusionary,” Mr. Gurian said. “But the Beveridge report shows that exclusionary zoning is endemic in Westchester, and it’s impossible for the county not to understand that.”