Special Series Fair Housing Part II
30th Anniversary
Fair Housing Act
Our industry has made significant strides toward equal housing opportunity for all.

Fair housing cases are down in several categories of protected classes, and many brokerages today look at fair housing as an opportunity rather than a barrier. A year-and-a-half-old partnership agreement between the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is enabling us to work in concert—rather than at odds—with fair housing groups.

But becoming complacent about fair housing is a mistake. As we approach the new millennium, fair housing isn’t just a black and white issue confined to large urban centers. It’s about familial status issues in Washington, D.C., multiculturalism in Phoenix, race concerns in Chicago. You may not even realize how your own personal biases impact the way you deal with these complex challenges. So in this story we look at some of the practical steps you can take to keep discrimination out of your company.

Since a diverse society is our future, equal housing opportunity must be our mission—not only because it’s the law but also because it makes economic sense. Provide equal opportunity for all, and you satisfy both society's needs and your own bottom line. What business could argue with that logic?—Allen M. Okamoto, 1998 vice chair, NAR Fair Housing Forum

Fair Housing: Good for Business
Reported violations have dropped dramatically as companies embrace best fair housing practices.

By Elyse Umlauf-Garneau

When a local housing group secretly tested salespeople at Cleveland's largest real estate company, it found some practitioners in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.

The group could have reported the violations to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Instead, it contacted the company's fair housing officer. The group knew that the company, Realty One, was committed to fair housing and would handle the issue appropriately.

“This is just one reason it’s important to establish good relationships with community housing groups,” says Anne Lulow, Realty One's full-time fair housing officer and instructional designer.

Like many companies today, Realty One embraces the principles of fair housing for dual purposes—to reduce risk by staying on the right side of the law and to do more business. The Cleveland-based brokerage has a comprehensive set of policies covering everything from qualifying techniques to how and when refreshments are offered to visitors. (There's more on Realty One's program exclusively at Today’s REALTOR®Online.)

Here are what some others are doing about fair housing:

• At Baird & Warner in Chicago, fair housing officer John Gasa not only teaches the law in the company's 26 offices but also works one-on-one with salespeople when they encounter potential violations among buyers, sellers, or colleagues. Since 1995 the company has partnered with a local housing group to test its own salespeople (see “ Fair Housing: A New Approach That Reduces Worry, Stress,” April 1997, page 24).
  
• At Pardoe & Graham Real Estate in Washington, D.C., company owner Bob Graham reconfigured his Capitol Hill office space and added minorities to his staff in response to complaints that people in the neighborhood didn’t feel welcome (see “Facing Up to Fair Housing Changes” ).
  
• At Century 21-Heinemann Realty in Phoenix, broker-owner Tina Robbins Heinemann saw her area's population changing and decided it was time to become a fair housing expert. “There isn’t any aspect of our career that has the same potential for liability or unlimited damages,” she says. Seeing a business opportunity, Heinemann also diversified her sales force, which includes an Orthodox Jewish rabbi as well as African, Czech, Japanese, and Hispanic salespeople.
  
  HUD's Caseload Way Down
  Over the past five years, as awareness of the fair housing law has increased, violations have dropped. According to HUD, between 1993 and 1997, the number of race-based cases categorized as “refusal to sell” went down 28 percent, the number of gender-based cases dropped 63 percent, and the number of familial status cases dropped 71 percent.
  
  As for other protected classes, HUD says the caseload is low and has remained fairly constant. For example, there were three religion-based cases in fiscal 1993–94 and one in 1996–97.
  
  Cases that do go forward—and occasionally get high-profile media coverage—are more often against property owners and managers than against real estate sales associates, says Stuart Ishimaru, an attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
  
  The numbers bear Ishimaru out. In its study 50 Million and Counting, the Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit reports that sales transactions accounted for only about 10 percent of the 1,004 lawsuits filed by fair housing centers across the country between 1990 and 1996.
  
  Pat Vredevoogd, vice president of sales for AJS Realty in Grand Rapids, Mich., attributes the decline in sales-related cases to a combination of changing attitudes and successful efforts by HUD and NAR to advance equal opportunity.
  
  “Since I started in this business 25 years ago, there's been a growing awareness,” says Vredevoogd, who chaired the NAR Equal Opportunity Committee in 1992 and negotiated the final Voluntary Affirmative Marketing Agreement with HUD.
  
  But Vredevoogd says there's still room for improvement, and fair housing advocates agree.
  
  The number of complaints isn’t necessarily an adequate indicator of how well the industry is doing, says Barbara Wurtzel Rabin, a Boston attorney who works with the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston. She notes that many people don’t know they’ve experienced discrimination, because often nothing blatant is said to them.
  
  Even if the interaction doesn’t seem right, “their major preoccupation is getting the house or apartment and not pursuing a legal claim, because it’s a hassle,” she says.
  
  New Agreement Focuses on Education, Not Liability
  When discrimination does occur, it’s usually the result of ignorance rather than malice, says Bill Caruso, director of fair housing for the John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Clinic in Chicago. It doesn’t have to lead to expensive litigation.
  
  In 1996 after 18 complaints had been filed against its members—most stemming from questionable language in ads—the Spokane (Wash.) Association of REALTORS® worked with the Northwest Fair Housing Alliance, which helped get most of the complaints dismissed without a formal, drawn-out procedure.
  
  “From that experience, we decided we needed to work more closely with them,” says Rob Higgins, executive vice president of the Spokane association. “Now the group is a resource for us when we have fair housing questions. We're all here to support fair housing together, so it’s critically important to form these partnerships.”
  
  In December 1996, NAR and HUD inked an agreement that encourages REALTOR® associations and fair housing groups to work together. In markets where it has been implemented, the Fair Housing Partnership Agreement is already paying big dividends in the form of reduced risk for members who unintentionally violate the law.
  
  Most recently, NAR and HUD worked with the Metropolitan Kansas City (Mo.) Board of REALTORS® to form a partnership with a local group in response to allegations of discriminatory advertising.
  
  The FHPA replaced the Voluntary Affirmative Marketing Agreement, or VAMA, which had been in operation since 1975. VAMA offered one approach for the entire country, says Allen Okamoto, broker-owner of T. Okamoto & Co., a residential and commercial brokerage in San Francisco. Yet fair housing issues vary—they may be racial in some areas, multicultural in others, and age related in others. The new agreement allows associations to tailor programs and relationships to their market.
  
  The FHPA also marked a shift away from telling real estate practitioners what to do and toward making practitioners partners with the government in the search for fair housing solutions.
  
  “VAMA was more regulatory and focused on record keeping,” says Okamoto. “The partnership agreement gives organizations freedom to do a lot of innovative, dynamic things in the area of fair housing.”
  
  Reaching the Next Level
  To jump-start partnerships, NAR and HUD have developed the Guide to Developing Local Fair Housing Partnerships(available online at One Realtor Place® at REALTOR.COM). And NAR regularly conducts field meetings to develop sample partnerships with local housing groups.
  
  Fair housing experts offer other suggestions on how you can take your fair housing efforts to the next level:
  
• Actively recruit more racial and ethnic minorities.
  
• Walk the talk by disciplining violators, and create major disincentives for violating the law.
  
• Maintain strong fair housing education programs. “The government can’t be in every situation,” says Ishimaru. “Real estate salespeople are in the middle of providing housing for people and have a long-standing interest in fair housing. They're an important piece of the process.”
  
  In April we looked at the history of fair housing and the key role REALTORS®have played. Next month: the growth of diversity in society and the profession.
  
  Equal Professional Service to All
  Five Tips to Keep You Out of Trouble
  
  If you want to make a stronger commitment to fair housing and reduce your potential liability, develop office policies to ensure equal professional service throughout your organization.
  
  U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations require that every real estate office post the HUD fair housing poster, available from your local HUD office, in a prominent place.
  
  But displaying the poster is just the first step in making a commitment to fair housing. In its Fair Housing Handbook, a resource for training and orientation regarding the Fair Housing Act, NAR offers these best practices:
  
• Implement an equal professional services model. Provide the same level of service to all your clients and customers. Develop a consistent approach to greeting people, showing homes, qualifying prospects, getting listings, conducting open houses, record keeping, and following up with clients and customers.
  
• Develop a written fair housing policy. It should contain an affirmative commitment to equal opportunity and require all staff to be familiar with your formal policy. You could ask all staff members to sign statements acknowledging their intent to comply.
  
• Provide fair housing training. Everyone who has contact with prospective buyers, sellers, landlords, or tenants should regularly receive basic training.
  
• Designate a fair housing officer. An in-house officer can develop and maintain office procedures, provide ongoing training, keep abreast with fair housing developments, serve as a resource for answers to fair housing-related questions, and track your office's compliance with your company's fair housing policy.
  
• Discuss fair housing on a regular basis. Such discussions should involve everyone associated with your company and should include reviewing compliance with your equal professional service procedures; addressing current fair housing concerns; and providing updates on any changes in the law, NAR policies, recent court decisions, and relevant local activities.