Celebrating Fair Housing Month and Beyond

BY ROBERT WHITE

It’s May and while Fair Housing Month has come and gone, the lessons we must carry with us for the entire year remain. We were able to host four free continuingeducation classes this past April to celebrate Fair HousingMonth while aligning with our plan to continue to strive forbetter diversity, equity, and inclusion in our profession andour association.

Members learned how to create websites that are accessibleto all, discovered how to align their businesses to uphold theCode of Ethics, discovered the differences between personaland implicit biases, and explored New Jersey’s Fair Chancein Housing Act.

Practicing real estate in an ethical way doesn’t end when April ends. June is Pride Month, where the LGBTQ+ community celebrates their history, impact, and rights around the world. For our profession as Realtors®, it's critical for us to provide the same level of service to our clients, regardless of their sexual identity or gender identity.

I’m proud that this year we have a few things in the works for June. We’ve been working with the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance, a non-profit member organization with the mission to empower the LGBTQ+ community towards homeownership, on an agreement between our two organizations and I’m hopeful that come June we’ll be able to share the details of that. Also, forthcoming is an educational class in June that will focus specifically on helping LGBTQ+ buyers and sellers—more details to come.

And in continuation of our year-long focus on DEI, we’ve recently launched a children’s art contest focused on bringing the conversation of fair housing into the home. The contest’s theme is Open Hearts, Open Doors, and is open to anyone between the ages of 6 and 18 with a familial tie to a New Jersey Realtors®. We look forward to looking at the beautiful art this community will create. Learn more on page 20.