A federal monitor wasted little time in sending Westchester County officials back to the drawing board after deeming an implementation plan to build 750 units of new and affordable housing “vague” and lacking “specificity with respect to accountability, time frames and processes.”

As part of an unprecedented $51.6 million settlement reached with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last August that requires Westchester to construct 750 fair and affordable housing units in predominantly white and affluent municipalities over the next seven years, the county was required to detail how it would comply by the end of January.

However, 10 days after submitting the plan, James Johnson, the federal monitor appointed by HUD to oversee the settlement, informed County Executive Rob Astorino in a four-page letter the plan was unacceptable.

“I appreciate that developing this plan during the transition into office has been challenging and your efforts to prepare the IP and exhibits thereto have been helpful. That said, there is more work to be done before I can accept the plan, and I am directing the county to take steps to revise it,” Johnson wrote.

One of the major deficiencies cited by Johnson was the lack of “any concrete short, medium or long-term strategies for how the county plans to develop the 750 affordable units required by the stipulation.”

Johnson pointed out the settlement mandates the county formulate a strategy for spending the $51.6 million on land acquisition, infrastructure improvements, construction and other development costs.

The monitor further stated a revised implementation plan should include general information about sites under active consideration for housing, and the estimated number of potential units.

On February 16, Johnson visited Astorino and his management team to discuss his correspondence, a meeting he called “productive.”

“We are at the start of a long and complex process,” Astorino said. “Because there are so many opportunities for misinformation when it comes to a subject like this, it is critically important that the right foundation be established and that everyone involved knows where things stand and where they are headed.”

The county’s revised implementation plan is due to Johnson by March 12.