Town accused of housing discrimination
The United States Dept. of Justice is suing the Town of Oyster Bay and Supervisor John Venditto of housing discrimination. Filing a complaint in District Court on April 10, the prosecutors say the town and its supervisor have violated the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against black people at two of their housing programs, The Seasons in Plainview and The Seasons in Massapequa.
April is Fair Housing Month, a celebration of the April 11, 1968 Civil Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. Title VIII of The Civil Rights Act, (the Fair Housing Act), prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of dwellings based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
Some people like V. Elaine Gross, president of ERASE Racism, do not believe that the Justice Department’s timing in filing the suit is coincidental.
“Before 1968 landlords and brokers could post a sign up or say we aren’t going to rent to you,” Gross said. “What’s significant about this is too many people only think of descrimination as something an individual does intentionally against another individual. This focuses on how a municipality in their action and policies can limit the access certain people will have to housing in their community.”
The two properties in question are a part of town zoning incentive programs. The “Next Generation” housing program was created for first time homebuyers and to help the adult children of people owning homes in the town to remain in Oyster Bay. Next Generation encourages developers to build below-market rate housing. In exchange for building the affordable housing, developers were then permitted to build up to 12 units per acre, more than what is ordinarily allowable.
The “Golden Age” housing program is similar, but it was created for senior citizens.
Both of these programs offer the dwellings only to residents and children of residents from the town. Since less than one percent of people living in the Town of Oyster Bay are black, and income eligible to buy a house in these programs, prosecutors are alleging housing discrimination.
