Council members in Evanston city outside Chicago on Monday voted to give funds to Black residents as a form of reparations for housing discrimination, becoming the first US city to take such action, reported AFP.

Passed with an 8-1 vote, the plan is set to distribute $400,000 of a $10 million fund generated by marijuana tax revenue, to up to 16 families to use toward housing needs.

Alderman Robin Rue Simmons, who the architect of the Evanston Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program and Program Budget, said  it was an “initial first step” after years of discussion and input from locals.

Simmons said, “It is not full repair alone in this one initiative but we all know that the road to repair and justice in the Black community is going to be a generation of work. It’s going to be many programs and initiatives and more funding.”

Residents who qualify will receive $25,000 to use towards home improvements or mortgage assistance. However, in order to qualify, they must have either been or be descended from a Black person who lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969 who suffered from discriminatory housing practices, including “redlining” — unfair refusal of services such as loans — from government and banks.

The move could become a model for other cities in the country as well, with racial injustice rising up the political and public agenda.

Evanston is a suburban city of 75,000 people which is home to Northwestern University, and which lies just north of Chicago along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Cicely Fleming, the lone alderman to vote against the measure said, “As a Black woman, I am 100% in support of reparations… but what we have before us tonight, I will counter, is a housing plan, with the title reparations.”