Westchester Leader Agrees to Sign Anti-Bias Housing Bill Facing a threat of a contempt lawsuit by the Justice Department, the Westchester County executive, Robert P. Astorino, sent county legislators a letter on Wednesday asking them to pass a law forbidding landlords to discriminate against renters based on their source of income, as required under the county's 2009 fair-housing settlement. He said he would sign the legislation, which prohibits landlords from rejecting potential renters for using payments like federal housing vouchers. His move apparently headed off federal court actions that could have resulted in heavy fines against the country and against him personally. The bill is similar to one Mr. Astorino, a Republican, vetoed in 2010. "If the proposed legislation is adopted by the County Board, I will sign said legislation in accordance with my court-ordered obligations under the Settlement Agreement," Mr. Astorino said in a letter to the Westchester County Board of Legislators. The letter seemed likely to avoid one collision with federal officials over Westchester's enforcement of the 2009 ruling, which obligated the county to build 750 houses and apartments for people with moderate incomes and to take steps to prevent barriers to affordable housing. The Justice Department set a deadline of Thursday for complying with the source-of-income legislation. In addition, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has said it would revoke $7.4 million allocated to Westchester if the county did not act by Thursday to comply with the source-of-income requirement and move forward with a review of impediments to fair housing in the county. The county has asked for a one-month delay, pending an analysis by a court-appointed monitor. But it is also working with housing officials and the state on a possible arrangement in which the state would administer the funds rather than have HUD revoke them and use them elsewhere. Ned McCormack, a spokesman for Mr. Astorino, said he felt the county was already complying on the source-of-income legislation but sent the letter on Wednesday to be "unambiguous" about its cooperation. He said that the differences with HUD were over issues that went beyond the letter of the original agreement and that the county was ahead of schedule in building housing. But Kenneth W. Jenkins, chairman of the county legislators and a Democrat, said the county needed to move forward without divisive grandstanding. "It is time for the administration to work through the necessary requirements of the housing settlement without all of the overheated political rhetoric - for the sake of all of our residents and taxpayers," said Mr. Jenkins, who has announced plans to run for Mr. Astorino's job.