COLUMBIA, MD, APRIL 9, 2021 - The Howard County Association of REALTORS® (HCAR) is pleased to announce its partnership with the Howard County Executive and Howard County Council to celebrate National Fair Housing Month. At HCAR's request, and in recognition of this important issue affecting our industry and communities, proclamations have been issued by both the County Executive and the County Council to officially declare April 2021 as Fair Housing Month in Howard County.

 

Realtor® associations around the country are commemorating the 53rd anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act in an effort to further nationwide progress toward ending housing discrimination in the United States.

 

"Fair Housing is an essential part of the real estate industry, and we recognize and celebrate the value that diversity and inclusion bring to our thriving Howard County community," said HCAR 2020-2021 President Shirley Matlock, CRS. "We also recognize and acknowledge that even though it's been over 50 years since the Fair Housing Act passed, discrimination persists and we must remain steadfast in our duty to uphold the law and educate our members and the public."

 

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has spent the past 15 months implementing its Accountability, Culture Change, and Training fair housing action plan, or ACT! for short. As part of the initiative, NAR last summer unveiled an implicit bias training video for Realtors® and association staff, and a few months later rolled out an interactive training platform designed to better prepare agents to combat housing discrimination. Fairhaven is an immersive simulation where agents work against the clock to close four deals, confronting various scenarios where discrimination enters into the transaction.

 

HCAR is commemorating Fair Housing Month locally with a comprehensive educational campaign and several events designed to raise awareness. The association has issued a Fair Housing Challenge to its over 2,000 members to complete NAR's Fair Haven Simulation, attend a viewing party for the Newsday Fair Housing documentary "Testing the Divide," and attend HCAR's Virtual Housing Symposium, featuring Bill Dedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who led the Long Island Newsday investigation featured in "Testing the Divide."

 

Each April, Realtors® across the country observe the anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 with events designed to educate about housing discrimination and segregation, and to recommit to expanding equal access to housing. Visit this link to learn more about all of the nationwide Fair Housing initiatives developed by NAR.