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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: April 6, 2021 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 4-c <br /> SUBJECT: Fair Housing Month Proclamation <br /> DEPARTMENT: Human Rights and Relations <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Annette Moore, Human Rights and <br /> Fair Housing Month Proclamation Relations, 919-245-2317 <br /> PURPOSE: To proclaim April 2021 as Fair Housing Month in Orange County, North Carolina. <br /> BACKGROUND: The month of April is National Fair Housing Month. April 2021 will mark the <br /> 53rd anniversary of the enactment of the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the 27t" anniversary <br /> Fair Housing portion of the Orange County Civil Rights Ordinance. These laws grant every person <br /> a right to live where they choose, free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, national <br /> origin, sex, religion, familial status, or disability. The Orange County Civil Rights Ordinance, <br /> established in 1987, adds additional protection from discrimination based on age and veterans <br /> status. <br /> The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has chosen "Fair Housing: <br /> More Than Just Words" as the 2021 Fair Housing Month theme. The chosen theme addresses <br /> the idea that ending discrimination in housing is more than providing equal housing opportunities <br /> for all. Housing can also be a tool to erase economic and education inequalities and help <br /> dismantle systemic racism. <br /> In the 1930s, the federal Government Federal Housing Administration ("FHA") was part of the <br /> New Deal, whose job was to guarantee Americans' loans so they could buy a home in subdivisions <br /> and suburbs across the United States. FHA made homeownership possible for millions of <br /> average Americans by ensuring long-term, low monthly paying mortgages. However, the FHA <br /> required deed restrictions that prevented Blacks from purchasing these homes. This housing <br /> boom was bolstered by the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944 ("G.I. Bill") that provided $95 <br /> billion into expanding a range of benefits for returning World War II Veterans. Benefits included <br /> helping 16 million veterans receive low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business or <br /> a farm, getting one year of unemployment compensation, and receiving education expenses to <br /> attend high school, college, or vocational school. Veterans Administration Mortgages guaranteed <br /> mortgages for nearly five million new homes for veterans. Between 1946 and 1947, VA mortgages <br /> alone accounted for 40% of the homes purchased during that year. Residential ownership <br /> became the critical foundation to economic empowerment in the United States. The G.I. Bill was <br />