Reagan Signs Tough Housing Bill

President Reagan today signed legislation putting new enforcement teeth in the open-housing law Congress passed in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 assassination.

Standing with members of Congress in the White House Rose Garden, Reagan hailed the newly enacted bill as “the most important civil rights legislation in 20 years.” The measure, which was passed overwhelmingly by the House and Senate, extends anti-discrimination protections to the handicapped and to families with children. It also empowers the federal government--for the first time--to seek fines of up to $100,000 against individuals or organizations found to have engaged in a pattern of housing discrimination.