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Mrs. Rabin

Mrs. Rabin

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Barbara W. Rabin, a founder of HOME, dies at 86

Most people take for granted that if they have the money to pay rent or cover a mortgage, they can live anywhere they want in the Richmond area. But that was not the case 50 years ago when skin color often trumped income in segregated Richmond. Barbara Wurtzel Rabin and a group of African-American and white colleagues ushered in change. They organized Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia, or HOME, and broke the back of overt dis- crimination in the sale and leasing of residences with lawsuits and other actions to enforce the 1968 federal Fair Housing Act.