When Jill Malloy of Long & Foster Real Estate taught a Fair Housing Zoom Class last week, she opened by saying “Where people are allowed to live influences everything else in their lives.” Her statement stuck with me all day.
With today’s national crisis around race relations, it is more important than ever for our industry to ensure that Fair Housing Laws are not only adhered to, but also understood and fully embraced.
One of the first services that we provide to our new landlords is to vet perspective tenants and to do so in compliance with Fair Housing Laws. This year, Virginia expanded the number of protected classes in our state to fully encompass four additional classes – Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Status as a Veteran, and Source of Income. We are committed to ensuring that our application process does not discriminate against these or any of the existing protected classes. We are committed to INCLUSION and will educate our landlords whenever needed on this critical requirement.
“Where people are allowed to live influences everything else in their lives.” - I hope that sticks with you all day too.
