By Bernadette Gerren, Chair, Ohio REALTORS Diversity Equity & Inclusion Committee

On April 11, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act which protects people from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance, or engaging in other housing related activities. Ohio REALTORS are proud to commemorate the 55th Anniversary of this landmark legislation.

Initially, the Fair Housing Act prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion and national origin. Later, the Act’s protections were expanded to include discrimination based on sex, disability and familial status. In February 2021, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) clarified that the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination because of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Today, under the leadership of Secretary Marcia L. Fudge, HUD continues to prioritize its commitment to strengthening fair housing protections and enforcement. In 2021-2022, HUD’s actions included:

• Fighting Housing Discrimination Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Protecting the LGBTQ+ Community Against Housing Discrimination
• Restoring the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Requirement
• Restoring the Discriminatory Effects Rule
• Withdrew the “Mixed-Status” Rule
• Fighting Disability Discrimination
• Launched a Whole-of-Government Plan for Wide-Ranging Reforms to Advance Equity in Home Appraisals

HUD delivered the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) Action Plan to President Biden. The Pave Action Plan is aimed squarely at dismantling racial bias in the home lending and appraisal process and promoting generational wealth creation through homeownership. This Action Plan, when enacted, represents the most wide-ranging set of reforms ever put forward to advance equity in the home appraisal process. The PAVE Task Force, co-chaired by Secretary Fudge and White House Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice, is a novel interagency initiative to address racial bias in home appraisals and includes senior leaders from thirteen Cabinet and independent agencies and components of the Executive Office of the President.

• Affirmed the Use of Special Purpose Credit Programs
  
• Set the Stage for Increased Fair Housing and Lending Enforcement and Access

Ohio REALTORS believe that Fair Housing makes us stronger. It provides opportunity...it opens doors...and it gives everyone a fair and equal chance to realize the American Dream.

Finally, Anti-Semitism, sometimes called history’s oldest hatred, is hostility or prejudice against Jewish people. Antisemitism is not just the Jewish community’s issue. It’s everybody’s concern.