United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, announced today that the United States has filed a federal Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) lawsuit against STAGG GROUP (“STAGG”) relating to its failure to design and construct new apartment buildings so as to be accessible to persons with physical disabilities. The specific buildings allegedly designed in violation of the FHA’s requirements are 3745 Riverdale Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463 (“Riverdale Tower”), 5959 Broadway, Bronx, NY 10463 (“The Station”), 6327 Broadway, Bronx, NY 10471 (“The Hudson”), 6375 Broadway, Bronx, NY 10471 (“The Stables”), 1680 Pelham Parkway South, Bronx, NY 10461 (“The Equestrian”), and 26 Garden Street, New Rochelle, New York (“West View”).
“Over the past two decades, this Office has brought twenty-one lawsuits against developers, architects, and construction companies to remedy their failure to comply with the Fair Housing Act,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. “Every New Yorker should be able to enjoy their homes, regardless of whether they have disabilities.”
The FHA’s accessible design and construction provisions require multifamily housing complexes constructed after January 1991 to have basic features accessible to persons with disabilities. To enforce these provisions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has filed suits and obtained settlements with a wide array of developers and related entities that construct multifamily housing, including the Related Companies, the Durst Organization, Glenwood Management, Silverstein Properties, Atlantic Development Group, and Toll Brothers.
According to the allegations in the Complaint, inaccessible conditions at certain of the specified buildings include:The front entry to the building is not accessible to persons who use wheelchairs because there is a non-automatic door requiring excessive force. Mailboxes are not accessible to persons who use wheelchairs because they are located too high. The curb ramp near the entrance of the building is inaccessible to persons who use wheelchairs due to its running slope. The ramp at the entrance to the outdoor entertainment space is not accessible to persons who use wheelchairs because it is excessively steep and missing a handrail.
In individual units, the entry threshold is not accessible to persons who use wheelchairs because it is too high. In individual units, the threshold to the bathroom is not accessible to persons who use wheelchairs because it is too high. In individual units, the doorway to the bathroom is not accessible to persons who use wheelchairs because it is too narrow. In individual units, there is insufficient clear floor space outside the swing of the door in the studio bathroom.
In individual units, the balcony door is inaccessible to persons who use wheelchairs because the doorway is not wide enough. In individual units, the threshold to the balcony is not accessible to persons who use wheelchairs because it is too high and unbeveled. Due to the inaccessible conditions at the buildings that STAGG designed and constructed, STAGG engaged in a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of rights protected by the FHA and denied such rights to people with disabilities. The Complaint seeks a court order directing STAGG to retrofit individual apartments as well as the public and common use areas of the buildings so that they are accessible, to adopt policies and procedures to ensure FHA compliance in future constructions, and to compensate individuals who suffered discrimination due to the inaccessible conditions. People who believe they may have experienced discrimination due to the inaccessible conditions at the above-named buildings designed and constructed by STAGG may contact the Civil Rights Complaint account at [email protected], use the Civil Rights Complaint Form available on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/civilrights.html, or send a written report to: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York 86 Chambers Street, 3rd Floor New York, New York 10007 Attention: Chief, Civil Rights Unit * * *Mr. McDonald thanked the Fair Housing Testing Program of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice for its assistance with the investigation.
The case is being handled by the Office’s Civil Rights Unit in the Civil Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mallika Balachandran and David J. Kennedy are in charge of the case.