(UPDATED April 8) Eve B. Lee, president and managing broker of Eve B. Lee & Associates in Antioch, was named a 2024 Fair Housing Champion by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) April 4.

“I was pulling my teardrop camper with my dogs, south of Hoover Dam when I got the call (about winning the NAR award),” said Lee, a REALTOR® and fair housing proponent for more than 45 years. “I had to pull over because of the joyful shock it gave me, and all I could think of was, ‘At last, fair housing is getting its due recognition.'”

Lee says she broke into real estate by selling land in rural Lake County, but as she learned more and more about the profession, she also enjoyed selling residential property. She became active on the local, state and national REALTOR® association levels, and served on numerous NAR and state committees, including six years on the Illinois REALTORS® Equal Opportunity Housing Committee. She was also president of the Lake County Association of REALTORS®, which is now part of the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS®.

It was during her time as a leader for Lake County Association of REALTORS® that consumers of color filed lawsuits in Illinois accusing real estate professionals with discrimination. Lee helped convince her colleagues that the local REALTOR® association should provide fair housing training for its members to fairly serve the housing needs of all consumers. She developed the training and taught it to colleagues. Looking back, this led to one of her three proudest fair housing moments.

“I am most proud that our board, the Lake County Association of REALTORS®, was the first or second local to adopt fair housing training in the state,” she says. “And none of our members had a fair housing complaint filed against them as a result.

“I am also proud that NAR is making fair housing training mandatory in 2025, even if it took 40 years from when I first started teaching,” she says. “And I am also very proud of Prairie Crossing, the nation’s first conservation community, which was created with 10 guiding principles including racial and economic diversity. I was instrumental in the vision, execution and sales of its 400 homes in Grayslake, with George and Vicky Ranney appointed as developers by Gaylord Donnelley. He envisioned affordable housing as an important part of Prairie Crossing, and his last words to me were, ‘If you and I don’t do it, who is going to?'”

NAR’s announcement of the 2024 Fair Housing Champions was made during the Facebook Live event, “Many Rivers to Cross: America’s Ongoing Fair Housing Journey.” Lee was the only 2024 winner from Illinois. Watch the NAR video about Lee. Other winners were from Massachusetts and Texas.

In 2023, Illinois REALTOR® Frank Williams was a recipient of the award.