Coalition of Bedford-Stuyvesant Block v. Cuomo

651 F. Supp. 1202

COALITION OF BEDFORD-STUYVESANT BLOCK ASSOCIATION, INC., Plaintiff, v. Mario CUOMO, Governor of the State of New York, Edward I. Koch, Mayor of the City of New York, Harvey Robins, Commissioner of the New York City Human Resources Administration, Hadley W. Gold, Esq., Commissioner of the New York City Department of General Services, and Paul Crotty, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Defendants.

No. 86 Civ. 3766.

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

January 15, 1987.

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Jose A. Rivera, P.C., Brooklyn, N.Y., for plaintiff.

Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr., Corp. Counsel of City of New York, New York City, for defendants; Frederick P. Schaffer, George Gutwirth, of counsel.

BARTELS, District Judge.

This controversy is the latest of many suits against the City of New York ("City"), challenging the City's attempts to comply with its legal and moral obligation to supply shelters for the homeless, practically all of which were rejected. The plaintiff is the Coalition of Bedford-Stuyvesant Block Associations, Inc., a non-profit corporation consisting of some 40 unnamed individuals and 38 unspecified block associations that apparently are located in Brooklyn Community District numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 16. All named defendants are City officials sued in their official capacities save one, Governor Cuomo, who, although named, is not a party to this suit.

The action was initiated on November 7, 1986, by plaintiff's application for a preliminary injunction, which was consolidated with a trial on the merits. A five-day bench trial was subsequently commenced on December 1, 1986, during which the Court heard testimony from ten witnesses and admitted numerous exhibits into evidence.

Plaintiff's claims are predicated upon the alleged intentional discrimination against black and hispanic residents of the aforementioned community districts including, in particular, those comprising the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, in connection with placing an additional shelter for the homeless in the Sumner Avenue Armory.

Specifically, plaintiff alleges that as part of a pattern and policy of racial discrimination against plaintiff and others similarly situated, defendants purposely and willfully concentrate site selection and placement practices with respect to shelters for homeless persons in minority communities, i.e., black and hispanic. Plaintiff further alleges that in the Borough of Brooklyn the defendants' discriminatory practices have had the effect of concentrating all, except one, City owned and operated singles shelter for the homeless in that part of Brooklyn comprising generally minority community board areas 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 16. Such discrimination, it is alleged, violates plaintiff's rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, and 2000d et seq., 3601 et seq., Articles I and II of the New York State Constitution, and Article 15, § 296 of New York's Executive Law (McKinney's 1982 & Supp.1987).

Plaintiff seeks to permanently enjoin the City from taking any action "to build, construct, or place any persons within those shelters located in North and Central Brooklyn," or in the aforesaid community districts and, in particular, the Sumner Avenue Armory. Jurisdiction is conferred on this Court by 28 U.S.C. §§ 1343(3) & (4) and 42 U.S.C. § 3612. The undisputed facts follow.

FACTS

Brooklyn

There are 18 community districts in Brooklyn, of which 8 have a white majority population. Overall, the population of Brooklyn is 2,230,794 persons, consisting of 48.6% white, 30.9% black, 17.6% hispanic, and 2.9% others. Brooklyn has only six shelters for homeless individuals, sheltering about 4,910 homeless persons, which consists of about 20% of the total number of homeless in the City. Of these six shelters, four are located in community districts with few whites and one is located in a white majority district. However, the second largest shelter in Brooklyn, which is in Greenpoint, shelters 31.4% of Brooklyn's homeless individuals and has a 48.5% white population.

Two of the City's 5 family shelters are in Brooklyn, which also hosts one of the City's five family centers, and several hotels currently employed by the City as temporary family accommodations.

City-wide

The city-wide population is 7,068,066. Manhattan has a total population of 1,420,692 persons, hosts nine shelters for homeless individuals, and shelters about 14,149 persons out of a total of about 23,814 homeless. Considering shelter sites on a city-wide basis, including Manhattan, we find that 38 of the City's 59 districts contain either shelter sites for homeless individuals, homeless families, or both. Of these 38 districts, 16 districts have a white majority and half of these 38 districts have a population which is at least 40% white. The largest "singles" shelter in the system is Bellevue, sheltering 1,016 individuals, and located in Manhattan Community District 6, which district is 84.2% white.

With respect to the distribution of homeless families on a city-wide basis, 16 of the 25 districts where such families are sheltered have a population of at least 40% white, 12 have a population of over 50% white, and 11 have a population which is over 60% white. Manhattan Community District # 5, which is a predominantly white district (in excess of 62% non-hispanic white), deserves special mention as it hosts 1,409 homeless families constituting 25.9% of all such families being housed by the City. It is also to be noted that 47.4% of the homeless families are sheltered in the 12 districts with a majority white population.

In terms of the latest official (1980) percentages predominantly minority districts (in excess of 63% black and hispanic) host 39.7% of all homeless, whereas predominantly white districts host 44.6% homeless, and mixed districts host 14.6%. If 500 single men were placed in the Sumner Avenue Armory, the percentage of homeless, citywide, in predominantly minority districts, would increase to 40%, whereas 43.7% would reside in predominantly white districts, and 15.3% in mixed districts. The City's ethnic composition is 43.9% minority, 51.9% non-hispanic white, and 4.3% other.

Selection Process

In one form or another, the City shelter program has been in existence since 1896. Recently, pursuant to a state court consent judgment that was entered into in August, 1981, entitled Callahan, et al. v. Carey, et al. (Index # 42582/79), and two State Appellate Court decisions, Eldredge v. Koch, 98 A.D.2d 675, 469 N.Y.S.2d 744 (1st Dep't 1983), and McCain v. Koch, 117 A.D.2d 198, 502 N.Y.S.2d 720 (1st Dep't 1986), the City, after much litigation, is now legally required to shelter all eligible homeless men, women, and families. One result of these legal obligations is that the City's homeless program, which is administered by the Human Resources Administration ("HRA"), has grown into the largest such program in the country. Currently HRA provides temporary shelter, food, clothing, non-emergency medical care, psychological treatment, and work programs to some 24,000 homeless individuals. These individuals are located in the following shelters: 21 shelters for individuals, 5 family shelters, 4 family centers, 1 family residence, and 58 hotels (also used exclusively for families) at an annual cost to the City of 273 million dollars. This sum is matched by the New York State government, and doubled by the Federal government. Nevertheless, despite the enormity of the program, a critical need for space has developed as the homeless ranks continue to swell. For instance, the population of some shelters has quadrupled within one month of their opening. Moreover, in 1985 1,500 persons were added to the rolls of the homeless program, and 1,000 persons more will require City shelter in fiscal year 1986.

The HRA's current homeless facilities include converted hospitals, schools, day care centers, and various other types of buildings, including armories and hotel facilities, all of which come from primarily the State and various City agencies. Potential hotels are located by HRA through a periodic survey of all hotels situated within the metropolitan area. This survey is conducted four times yearly. Virtually no private property has been employed by HRA as homeless facilities.

With respect to State armories, HRA initiates the conversion process by requesting additional space, rather than specific buildings. HRA's space requests, which are determined by current need, are made to the New York State Department of Social Services ("D.S.S."), which then relays those requests to the New York State Department of Military and Naval Affairs. This latter department then determines how much armory space can be allocated to HRA. The criterion for armory space allocation by the State is military necessity and the obligations of long-term commercial contracts already entered into for specific armory space. Given the diverse needs of the military space is often allocated to HRA within functioning armories, though the quantity of such space fluctuates periodically. Entire state armories have also been made available to HRA. In those armories where HRA has been given partial space, such as the Park Slope Armory in Brooklyn, HRA has repeatedly requested additional square footage from the State.

The vast majority of HRA's remaining non-hotel facilities are taken from three distinct sources: the City's Board of Education, the Health and Hospitals Corporation, and computer listings of all vacant City buildings and property. This list is generated by the City's Division of Real Property. HRA also scours its own buildings for potential homeless space, and the City has advertised for private space in various newspapers.

HRA's ability to shelter the homeless in the future hinges upon the immediate availability of suitable space. Towards...