Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) was established by a group of citizens who wanted to make America’s promise of equal treatment a reality and ensure that every person had the opportunity to live in the neighborhood of their choice.

The Articles of Incorporation, filed on September 7, 1971 stated: The purposes for which the corporation is organized are: to make open housing a reality in the Richmond metropolitan area by encouraging owners and landlords to comply voluntarily with the law and offer their properties on a non-discriminatory basis, assisting potential buyers and renters, carrying forward educational programs, and supporting litigation where necessary for compliance with anti-discrimination laws (HOME, 1971).

Virginia was the first Southern state to pass a state Fair Housing Law.

HOME began rental and home buyer counseling programs to help home seekers become educated in both their legal rights and responsibilities as a tenant or home owner.

The Federal Fair Housing Act was amended to make housing discrimination on the basis of sex illegal.

HOME hired its first Executive Director, Barbara Wurtzel.

Sandra C. Coles joined HOME and developed HOME’s first publication, "An Aprtment Seeker's Guide" containing information on 500 apartment complexes with 43,000 apartments in the Richmond Metropolitan area. It was first published in 1975 and has been published ever since. It is now a comprehensive guide to affordable housing, covering Central and South Virginia.

Kent Willis was hired as HOME’s second executive director.

HOME began offering training in fair housing law compliance to realtor groups.

James L. Hecht, one of the founders of HOME, states in his book Because It Is Right: Integration in Housing that white Americans pay for the discrimination they practice. His reasoning is that two thirds of the world population is non-white. Thus the worldview on Americans is that if we will treat non-white citizens of our own country with hostility, then how Americans feel about the rest of the world is obvious. Furthermore, the economic costs of ghettos place a serious tax burden on the white communities, and the cycle of decay in the cities began with whites moving out into the suburbs. Additionally, he felt that the preoccupation with racial issues exhausted the energies of public administrators such that issues of education, housing, transportation, and pollution are allocated fewer resources and attention. Finally, Hecht proposed that the denial of basic rights breeds desperation and violence.

To Hecht, however, the most compelling reason to end discrimination was phrased by President John F. Kennedy in his message encouraging Congress to pass a civil rights act: “not merely for reasons of economic efficiency, world diplomacy and domestic tranquility – but, above all, because it is right.” This belief motivated Hecht and other founders of HOME in Richmond. Ultimately, HOME’s goal was to keep the promise issued to black citizens over 100 years before.

It was also HOME’s premise that only when people of different races live together in a neighborhood, will they overcome the prejudices and hostility that come from ignorance. (From Promises Kept)