Agreement Approved in Housing Dispute Involving Whites, Most of Whom Are Hasidim, and Blacks and His

An agreement approved in federal district court here Tuesday to end a sharp dispute between whites–mostly Hasidic Jews–and Hispanic and Black residents in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn gives the Hasidim 49 percent of the 532 apartments in a federal housing project and the minorities 51 percent, the attorney for the Jews said today.

At issue was the formula for a allocation of the apartments in the two 20-story and four six-story buildings making up the Roberto Clemente Plaza, according to Gabriel Kaszovitz, attorney for the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg (UJO), an umbrella agency for more than 100 Jewish organizations in Williamsburg.

Kent Village, the Hispanic-dominated sponsoring organization for Clemente Plaza, initially proposed to the federal Housing and Urban Development department and to the city Housing and Development Administration, a plan for allocation under which apartments would be offered on a 75-25 ratio, with the minorities getting the 75 percent. The two housing agencies approved.

Kaszovitz said he went into New York Southern District Federal Court stop the allocations which he said were actually being made on a basis of 87-13 ratio. Williamsburg Jews testified in the trial that followed before Judge Charles Tenney that they would not accept apartments as a 25 percent minority in the housing project.

Tenney halted rentals last Dec. 23, describing the allocation plan as vague and ordering all parties to come up with a more clear-cut plan to conform with the ethnic make-up of the community.

NEGOTIATIONS BEGAN SOME THREE MONTHS AGO

The attorney said that between 60 and 75 minority families had moved in by the time Tenney issued his stay but that he did not order their eviction. After more legal maneuverings by agencies for the minorities, serious negotiations began about three months ago which ended in agreement on the consent degree and a stipulation by Tenney lifting his stay on rentals, permitting renewal of apartment allocations on the basis of the 51-49 formula, which will give Williamsburg Jews about 250 apartments.

Kaszovitz said UJO officials saw problems as the allocation was resumed in the now completed six buildings. He praised Marvin Schick, a political scientist and former assistant to Mayor Lindsay, and Lloyd Deutsch of the city HDA for their help in settling the dispute.

Schick, who said he aided the UJO in his capacity as board chairman of the federally-funded Legal Assistance for the Jewish Poor project, cited the “precautions being taken under the agreement to insure the stability of the project and the surrounding neighborhood” and said he was “pleased” he had been able to help in the settlement.

Hasidic leaders expressed fears last spring that application of the 75-25 formula would “tip” the area and bring the ultimate destruction of Williamsburg as a site of Jewish settlement, citing a drop in the Jewish population during the past 15 years from nearly 200,000 to the present estimated 50,000.