Settlement Reached In Eastchester Housing Discrimination Suit

EASTCHESTER, NY — A settlement was reached in a housing discrimination lawsuit filed against the town of Eastchester.

The suit accused the town of racially discriminatory residency preferences.

According to a spokeswoman for Emery Celli Brinckherhoff Abady Ward & Maazel, the firm representing the plaintiff Fair Housing Justice Center Inc., the suit said the town applied residency preferences to its voucher system and warning applicants of the wait involved.

By doing so, the suit said Eastchester discouraged non-residents, who were more likely to be Black and Latino, from applying to the program.

The settlement requires the town to pay $635,000 and amend its zoning code to remove residency preferences for senior housing.

The Fair Housing Justice Center said that 75 percent of the town's voucher holders were white, compared to 18 percent of voucher holders in Westchester County, even though 73 percent of applicants on the town's housing choice voucher program waiting list were Black or Latino.

The suit also said only about 15 percent of Eastchester's voucher holders were Black and only 9 percent Latino. Westchester County's voucher holders were 48 percent Black and 33 percent Latino.

The town of Eastchester did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement.