What is 10-5?

 The National Association of Realtors is the largest trade association in the country. They represent real estate agents, brokers, as well as certain affiliated professions.  In order to join this organization one has to agree to their Code of Ethics. 

Article 10 of their Code of Ethics states:

    "Article 10 REALTORS® shall not deny equal professional services to any person for reasons of race,         color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.         REALTORS® shall not be parties to any plan or agreement to discriminate against a person or persons      on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation,         or gender identity. (Amended 1/23) REALTORS®, in their real estate employment practices, shall not         discriminate against any person or persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial      status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. (Amended 1/23)"

Take note that of the protected classes NAR recognizes they include both sexual orientation and gender identity. This is notable because the Federal Government does not recognize those classes in the Fair Housing Act. The Biden administration does interpret the protected class of sex to include these other classes, but since it is not part of the law, each administration can, and does take a different approach to gender identity and sexual orientation. In fact on the state level only 23 states and the District of Columbia recognize these two classes as protected, and 27 states allow discrimination in housing against LGBTQ+ persons.

In order to clarify what each Article of the Code of Ethics entails, there are supporting Standards of Practice. NAR SOP states:

    "Standard of Practice 10-5 REALTORS® must not use harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or         slurs based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual                         orientation, or gender identity. (Adopted and effective November 13, 2020, Amended 1/23)

This Standard of Practice was voted on at the 2020 NAR Board of Directors meeting  in November 2020 and came into affect in January 2021. This is the prohibition on Realtors using Hate Speech. This prohibition does not just apply to their real estate activities, but to their entire lives. So posting hate speech on their social media is a definite no-no.

The driving force that created this Standard of Practice arose out of the George Floyd murder.  This terrible event and the following protests, and in some cases riots became a rallying point of hate speech around the country.  Such incredibly racist posts became all too common....and they certainly became too common in the real estate community. A community of professionals who agree to a code not to discriminate was filled with a certain amount of hate speech. Thus came the passing of SOP 10-5.

It is this SOP from which this blog takes its name. So what will this blog be about? It will be about hate, discrimination, racism, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia, religious discrimination and all the topics that revolve around this topic in the realm of real estate.  It will not be limited to just the Realtor world. We believe lots of discrimination, racial justice issues and equity issues permeate the entire business, from agent to lender to wholesaler to landlords, to tenants....really every where.  

We do though certainly plan on reposting the social media posts by Realtors that we believe are in violation of 10-5. We will likely post them without comment, and you the reader can decide what you think of each post. 

If you want to share posts that you believe violate 10-5, feel free to email the links or screen captures to exposehate@tendashfive.com