Fair Housing

GPAR opposes discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status sexual orientation, gender identity, and national origin. This policy is embodied in NAR’s Code of Ethics. NAR also authorizes sanctions in response to a finding that a member has violated any fair housing law, including local and state laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. NAR policy is to support equal opportunity on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and the NAR Code of Ethics was amended in 2010 and 2013, to include this updated policy in the Code of Ethics.

On November 13, 2020, NAR’s Board of Directors strengthened REALTORS®’ commitment to upholding fair housing ideals, approving a series of recommendations from NAR’s Professional Standards Committee that extend the application of Article 10 of the Code of Ethics to discriminatory speech and conduct outside of members’ real estate practices.

Fair housing is more than a list of dos and don’ts, rights and penalties, and mandatory continuing education. As stewards of the right to own, use and transfer private property, fair housing protects our livelihood and business as REALTORS® and depends on a free, open market that embraces equal opportunity.

REALTORS® recognize the significance of the Fair Housing Act and reconfirm their commitment to upholding fair housing law as well as their commitment to offering equal professional service to all in their search for real property.

It’s important to recognize progress made and the work still to be done to ensure that no one is subject to discrimination in real estate. Laws matter, but ultimately, it’s people who make the dream of property ownership real. As REALTORS®, we believe that fairness is worth fighting for, and we won’t stop until the fight is won.

An Overview of the Fair Housing Act

Watch this video to learn about the Fair Housing Act, how it makes our industry and country stronger, and the work that is still to be done. We ask all members of the REALTOR® family to join us in this commemoration and stand together with us in this commitment. 

Have you been to Fairhaven?

Fairhaven is a town every REALTOR® should visit. Online, that is.

NAR ‘s Fairhaven is a fair housing simulation training for REALTORS® that uses the power of storytelling to help members identify, prevent, and address discriminatory practices in real estate. Inspired by real stories, this innovative online experience has agents work against the clock to sell homes in the fictional town of Fairhaven, while confronting discrimination in the homebuying process. Learners will also walk in the shoes of a homebuyer facing discrimination. The training provides customized feedback that learners can apply to daily business interactions.

Be an advocate for fair housing and the future of our industry. Commit to combating discrimination in real estate. Get started by visiting fairhaven.realtor to explore the fictional town of Fairhaven and assess how well you are adhering to fair housing principles.

Bias Override: Overcoming Barriers to Fair Housing

Watch an online workshop that helps real estate professionals confront and overcome unconscious biases that can prevent equal professional service.

The mind science experts at the Perception Institute present an online workshop to help members avoid implicit bias in their daily business interactions. Drawing upon the latest evidence-based research, Perception explains how our brains’ automatic, instant association of stereotypes with particular groups can cause us to treat those who are different from us unfairly, despite our best intentions and often without our conscious awareness. Perception then applies these concepts to the everyday work of REALTORS®, and offers strategies to override bias in order to convey respect, ensure fairness, and improve business relationships.

Want to go deeper? Take the Implicit Bias test and watch for future offerings from Perception and NAR.

Long Island Divided 

2020-21 GPAR President Stephanie Biello welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and bestselling author, Bill Dedman, to discuss the Newsday “Long Island Divided” investigation that highlighted racial steering by real estate agents and what we can do to combat racism in real estate. Bill was one of the four lead reporters on Newsday’s undercover investigation. This webinar was made possible by the National Association of REALTORS®.

Please see the full Newsday investigative report Long Island Divided: Testing the Divide.

At Home With Diversity®

Transcending Cultural Barriers


The course work for the At Home with Diversity® certification is designed to enable you to work successfully with and within a rapidly changing multicultural market. It will help you to learn diversity sensitivity, how it applies to U.S. fair housing laws in your business, and ways to develop professional guidelines for working with people in the increasingly multicultural real estate market.

The At Home with Diversity® course is a 6 to 7-hour class that can be taken online or in person and addresses the topics of diversity, fair housing, and business planning development. After successfully completing the course, REALTORS® are eligible to apply for the official AHWD certification, which conveys to clients they’re working with a dynamic real estate professional with expertise that transcends cultural barriers.

Learn more about taking the At Home With Diversity® course, benefits and certification.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

At the 2022 Leadership Installation, President Jake Markovitz spoke of his desire to get as many GPAR members as possible to read The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, a New York Times Bestseller, by Richard Rothstein in 2022.

We hope you will accept Jake’s invitation. To request a copy of the book, please call Cheryl Adams at 215-836-2985.

About the book by publisher W. W. Norton & Company Inc.: Widely heralded as a “masterful” (Washington Post) and “essential” (Slate) history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law offers “the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation” (William Julius Wilson). Exploding the myth of de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces, Rothstein describes how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation: with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to African Americans in white neighborhoods. A groundbreaking, “virtually indispensable” study that has already transformed our understanding of twentieth-century urban history (Chicago Daily Observer), The Color of Law forces us to face the obligation to remedy our unconstitutional past.