Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino met today with a federal monitor who is overseeing the County's implementation plan for the Fair and Affordable Housing Settlement it reached with the Department of Housing and Urban Development in August. The monitor, James E. Johnson, called today's meeting "productive" adding "There's more work to be done on the implementation plan. Today's meeting was held to discuss those concerns and go through the next steps."

Over the next month, Johnson says he expects teams from the County and Department of Housing and Urban Development to conduct a aseries of meetings and discussions aimed at revising the implementation plan which is due back to him on March 12th. County Executive Rob Astorino says he welcomed the meeting today with the federal monitor and says "We are at the start of a long and complex process."  Under the agreement, Westchester has agreed to build 750 units of affordable housing in the some of the County's wealthier neighborhoods.

The Westchester County Association (WCA) is calling on the County Board of Legislators to immediately approve Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino's proposal that would require all non-union County managers contribute 15% towards their health insurance premiums.

Currently, Westchester County pays 100% of their healthcare premiums.

Westchester County has submitted its implementation plan to the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development and to the federal monitor
overseeing the county’s compliance with last year’s settlement of the
fair and affordable housing lawsuit.

The plan details the framework for complying with the settlement entered
into by former County Executive Andrew Spano and approved by a majority
of the Board of Legislators. The settlement requires the county to build
750 units of new housing in 31 communities and to undertake marketing