A non-profit network of churches, community and tenant organizations and individual plaintiffs had commenced an action to stop construction of a mixed-use real estate development (project), located in what is known as the “Broadway Triangle” part of Brooklyn (site). The plaintiffs asserted claims pursuant to the Fair Housing Act Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (FHA), “either as a private right of action, a 42 USC §1983 claim,” or as a “CPLR Article 78 proceeding.” The plaintiffs sought to require the city of New York (city) “to conduct a racial impact study whenever it rezoned property.”

The court held that the aforementioned statutes did “not create a private right of action, and without that right, 42 USC §1983 claims and Article 78 relief will not lie.” The court explained that even if such claims were viable, “although the city is obligated ‘affirmatively to further fair housing’…, it is not obligated to conduct a racial impact study whenever it rezones property.” The court observed that although “wealth and income disparities and discrimination are exceedingly widespread and unfortunate, and they negatively affect housing patterns,…, they are not actionable.” Accordingly, the court held that there was “no legal impediment to the proposed housing being built.”