MHANY Management, Inc. v. County of Nassau

Nassau County (defendant) planned to sell two properties in Garden City, a community with little affordable housing and few minority residents, and proposed zoning them for multi-family residential use (R-M), which would have allowed affordable housing. Garden City residents objected, citing traffic and a desire to preserve single-family neighborhood 'character,' and the town quickly adopted a new residential-townhouse (R-T) zoning category instead. Under the accepted R-T bid, MHANY Management (plaintiff) concluded it would be financially impossible to build affordable housing, while its own proposals under the original R-M zoning would have included at least 15 percent affordable units and, according to expert testimony, attracted a renter pool 18 to 32 percent minority — compared to only three to six minority households able to afford homes under the R-T zoning actually adopted. MHANY sued, alleging the rezoning violated the Fair Housing Act through both disparate treatment and disparate impact. The district court ruled for MHANY, and Nassau County appealed.