Calling it "hopelessly flawed" and likely to produce the unintended consequence of making housing more expensive and less available, County Executive Robert P. Astorino today vetoed the so-called source of income law approved last week by the Board of Legislators.

"This law may be well intentioned, but it is hopelessly flawed," said Astorino. "It will hurt tenants by making housing more expensive and less available, and it will hurt landlords by saddling them with legal uncertainty and unnecessary regulations. At a time when Westchester must comply with a federal housing settlement to build fair and affordable housing, this bill will undermine that effort."

After three years of debate, the measure – which would make it illegal for some, but not all, landlords to discriminate against prospective tenants based on the source of their income – was approved June 14 by the legislators by a 10-4 vote.

In issuing his veto, the county executive said the legislation would do more harm than good and would not accomplish its intended purpose of protecting tenants, who use Section 8 vouchers from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to pay their rent, from discrimination. He gave the following as his reasons for the veto:

• The legislation attempts to circumvent current federal regulations that specify that the Section 8 Housing Assistance Program is a voluntary plan that leaves the choice to participate up to landlords.
• The legislation raises a question of equal protection. It attempts to elevate federally assisted tenants to a "protected class," such as race, creed, and age, but then exempts large numbers of landlords from having to comply with the law, which then expires after five years. "If there is a wrong to be righted, then it should apply to everyone," said Astorino. "The fact that lawmakers were not willing to make the law apply equally means they don't really believe in it. If federally assisted tenants are to be elevated to a 'protected' class within the county's Human Rights Law, why is it allowed to have so many exemptions? If there are exemptions in this law, doesn't that open the door to similar exemptions for other protected classes?"
• The legislation places an unfair burden upon limited-income properties, such as one- and two- family units, and would add "a bureaucratic maze into the landlord-tenant relationship" that would particularly be a hardship on smaller landlords.
• The Board has not considered the appropriateness of subjecting landlords to the scrutiny of the Human Rights Commission and the potential of $50,000 fines that the commission could levy against landlords.
• Landlords are less likely to build affordable units in Westchester if, by law, they must opt into the Section 8 program, which carries additional rules, regulations and fines for non-compliance with it. This will make it more difficult for the county to comply with the federal housing settlement it is under to build fair and affordable housing.
  
  Astorino emphasized that his veto of the source of income legislation would in no way deter the county's efforts to meet the significant mandates of the federal housing settlement, which requires the development of 750 new fair and affordable housing units in 31 communities within the next seven years and to undertake marketing for the units that ensures outreach to racially and ethnically diverse households.
  
  "A bad law will not help the housing settlement or the county in general," he said. "This law is not required by federal law, it's highly questionable as to whether it is even constitutional, and will result in less affordable housing being built in Westchester."