Motion to dismiss denied in fair housing case; veterans and people with mental health disabilities one step closer to justice
Southampton, NY, March 18, 2026 — Last week, a federal judge in New York denied the Town of Southampton's motion to dismiss a disability discrimination lawsuit alleging the Town deliberately blocked an affordable housing development for veterans and other tenants with mental health disabilities. The Court’s opinion provides an important path forward for advancing the development of much-needed housing for veterans.
"This ruling is a meaningful step toward justice for veterans and people with disabilities who were shut out of a high-opportunity community simply because of who they are," said Ralph Fasano, Executive Director of Concern for Independent Living, Inc. (Concern), one of New York's largest private providers of high-quality, affordable housing and critical services for veterans and individuals with mental disabilities.
Concern’s proven model of building workforce housing alongside permanent supportive housing is one of the most effective strategies for addressing veteran homelessness while simultaneously strengthening communities.
The lawsuit, filed by Relman Colfax, LLC and SBarshov Law on behalf of Concern, alleges that the Town wielded its land use authority as a weapon against prospective residents with disabilities in violation of federal and state law. In March 2017, Town officials invited Concern to submit an application for a much-needed affordable housing development at an underutilized 5-acre parcel where zoning would permit no more than ten single family homes. Over the next seven years, and with Town encouragement to request a zone change and density increase to permit at least 50 apartment units, Concern invested more than $2.5 million in pre-development activities, secured a total of $30 million in financing, and pursued the approvals necessary to build a supportive housing community known as Liberty Gardens. As alleged in the complaint, in June 2024 — after some Town residents campaigned against the development because it would serve veterans and other tenants with mental health disabilities — the Town Board reversed course and blocked the development by denying the zone change.
In seeking dismissal of the lawsuit, the Town did not dispute Concern’s allegations that its actions violated the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Rather, it claimed for the first time that instead of seeking a zone change, as the Town had directed it to do, Concern should have pursued an entirely different route — seeking “use and area variances” from the Zoning Board of Appeals — before asserting its discrimination claims. In a detailed 34-page opinion, Judge Nusrat Choudhury of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, squarely rejected the Town’s arguments, permitting all of Concern’s federal claims and its claim under Article 78 of New York’s Civil Practice Law to proceed.
As Fasano explained, ”There is a deep need for workforce housing and supportive housing for people with disabilities in Southampton, and we are hopeful this ruling creates a path to meeting that need.”