House Votes to Expand Ban Against Bias in Housing

The House Wednesday overwhelmingly adopted a far-reaching bill to ban housing discrimination against families with children or the handicapped and to strengthen enforcement of existing laws that forbid racial bias in the sale of homes or rental of apartments.

The vote was 376 to 23 on the first major bill in years to expand protection for minorities. Members of Congress from both parties seized the election-year opportunity to be recorded in favor of civil rights.

“We have a wonderful compromise that satisfies both sides,” said Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose), floor manager of the bill. During most of the Reagan years, Edwards said, minorities have had to defend gains made in the previous decade.

In the Senate, a similar coalition is ready to act on the measure this summer and send it to President Reagan, who is said to be ready to sign it during the fall election campaign. Vice President George Bush, in a break with usual practice, endorsed the bill last week, apparently in the hope that the move will aid his presidential campaign.

The bill was passed after federal agencies reported that discrimination and segregation in housing continue to be “pervasive” 20 years after the original Fair Housing Act was enacted in 1968. The Housing and Urban Development Department estimated recently that there are 2 million instances of housing discrimination each year.

The bill would authorize the department for the first time to bring an enforcement action if it believes that discrimination exists in home sales or apartment rentals. In the past, the department was limited to seeking conciliation and individuals who charged housing bias had to file lawsuits on their own in federal court.

The bill would authorize fines of up to $10,000 for first-time violators, $25,000 for those found guilty of a second offense within five years and up to $50,000 for those with three offenses in a seven-year period. Judges could grant compensatory damages and issue injunctions.

The bill also would forbid landlords from discriminating against families with children under 18 years old, although exemptions would be provided for retirement communities where most of the residents are more than 55 years old or where all are more than 62 years old.

Modifications Required

In another expansion of current law, the bill would bar discrimination against handicapped home buyers or tenants. Thirty months after the bill became law, it would require new apartment buildings to have ground-floor rooms suitable for use by residents who use wheelchairs.

Those who bring charges under the measure or those accused of violating the law would be allowed to demand a jury trial. Otherwise, an administrative law judge would decide disputes.

Bush, apparently trying to burnish his political image, issued an unusual endorsement of the bill last week after a grand compromise was reached between Republicans and Democrats, home builders, realtors and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

Bush lost ground with civil rights supporters last spring when he supported President Reagan’s veto of a bill designed to restore federal anti-bias regulations that had been undercut by a 1984 Supreme Court ruling. Congress easily overrode the veto and the law took effect over Reagan’s objections.

On the housing bill, by contrast, Bush issued an immediate statement of praise for the compromise that was fashioned by Rep. Hamilton Fish Jr. (R-N.Y.) with Democratic managers of the bill.

Recalls Vote on Bill

The vice president recalled that, as a member of Congress from Texas, he had voted for the 1968 Fair Housing Act. He said that he favors the new bill because it would strengthen federal enforcement powers to combat discrimination.

“I urge Congress to pass it soon,” Bush said, departing from his customary silence on pending legislation when the President has not spoken.

His endorsement was mentioned several times during the House debate on the bill as evidence that the Administration was behind the bill, although it clearly would have been adopted without Bush’s endorsement.

In a remarkable departure from past congressional battles over housing bias, there was no organized lobbying opposition to the bill.

Voting for the bill were 234 Democrats and 142 Republicans. All the negative votes came from Republicans, including Californians William E. Dannemeyer of Fullerton, David Dreier of La Verne, Duncan L. Hunter of Coronado, Al McCandless of Bermuda Dunes and Norman D. Shumway of Stockton.