On December 13, 2007, low-income minority individuals in need of affordable housing filed a lawsuit under the Fair Housing Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against the Town of Smithtown in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York. The plaintiffs, represented by both private counsel and public interest attorneys, asked the court for injunctive and monetary relief, claiming that Smithtown operated its voucher program with a residency preference that discriminated on the basis of race, color, and national origin. Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that they and others similarly situated were intentionally excluded from participation in the Town's voucher program.

The plaintiffs moved for class certification and also sought for the parties' proposed settlement agreement to be approved on May 6, 2009.

On August 28, 2009, the court (Joanna Seybert) entered an order and final judgment approving the parties' settlement agreement. The final certified class consisted of "all African-American and Hispanic individuals who do not live or work in Smithtown, New York and who applied to the Smithtown Section 8 Voucher Program in 2002 or 2006 when the waitlist was opened and who subsequently were or would have been determined not eligible for the Section 8 Voucher Program because they did not live or work in Smithtown." Under the terms of the settlement the Town of Smithtown agreed to implement an anti-discrimination educational program for its employees, to affirmatively market the Section 8 Program to minority persons, to inform the public of its non-discriminatory policies, to maintain and preserve records for purposes of recordkeeping and reporting, and to pay $925,000 to the plaintiffs. This settlement remains in effect until 2019.

This case is closed.

Gregory Pitt - 08/01/2012
Hope Brinn - 05/26/2020


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