Laborers Sue Brookhaven for Unfair Housing

New York, NY —

Lawyers for a group of Latino day laborers have filed a federal lawsuit claiming the Long Island town of Brookhaven is enforcing housing codes in a discriminatory manner.

REPORTER: In the past several months, town officials have closed down 11 homes because they say they were overcrowded and unsafe. But lawyers argue that racial tensions within this Suffolk County suburb are what's fueling the investigations into overcrowded housing. Attorney Foster Maer says more than a hundred tenants have been left homeless and many are living outdoors.

MAER: They have designed this program based on neighbor complaints such that it will target latino homes and it is designed in such a way that they don't have any ability to challenge these evictions or to cure the problems.

REPORTER: Today, lawyers will ask a judge to put a halt to the house closures until the case is decided. A Brookhaven town spokesman says 4 state judges have already sided with the town and he expects the federal judge to do the same.