Perspectives
News From the Clinics Law Reform Advocacy Clinic
Keeping the ‘Fair’ in the Fair Housing Act Since
2006,
nearly
50
student
interns
in
the Law Reform Advocacy Clinic have diligently represented nine Latino tenants in a case against the Village of Farmingdale for violations of the Fair Housing Act. The lawsuit, which was brought in federal court, alleges that the village recruited a private developer to purchase and renovate a 54-unit apartment complex that housed predominantly Hispanic tenants. As part of the redevelopment plan, it is alleged, the village, motivated by hostility toward Latino day laborers, intentionally targeted the only Hispanic neighborhood by eliminating the existing affordable housing in the area. While only 12.6 percent of the village’s population is Latino, the plan resulted in the displacement of 21 percent of the Latino population and only 1.2 percent of the non-Hispanic white population. After years of work on the case, the law students
Farmingdale Village
and their clients achieved a significant victory in
“
March of 2011 when they overcame a motion for
The student interns successfully
summary judgment brought by the village, convincing
argued that there was enough
U.S. District Court Judge Denis Hurley to send the
evidence for a reasonable
that there was enough evidence for a reasonable
case to trial. The student interns successfully argued
juror to find that the village’s
juror to find that the village’s redevelopment plan
redevelopment plan had a
which resulted in a disproportionate deprivation of
had a disparate impact on the Hispanic population, affordable housing.
disparate impact on the Hispanic
”
Over the past six years, the hardworking students
population, which resulted in a
at the Law Reform Clinic have litigated this case under
disproportionate deprivation of
goal has been to achieve justice for their clients while
affordable housing.
Hofstra Law Report • SPRING 2012
the supervision of Professor Stefan Krieger. Their ensuring further protection for future tenants from violations by municipalities of the Fair Housing Act. This recent decision means that the case of Rivera v. Incorporated Village of Farmingdale will proceed to a full trial on the merits. 32
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