President Biden has made housing equity one of his highest priorities since taking office and that has put the entire appraisal process under a microscope. In June he launched an interagency task force to root out inequity in the appraisal industry, putting HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge at the helm.
Today, Fudge kicked off a two-hour virtual event on Advancing Equity in the Home Valuation Process and announced Susan Rice, former ambassador to the United Nations, will co-chair the task force.
The event featured an historical overview of racial discrimination in housing by Lisa Rice, president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, which was a great primer for anyone who thinks that systemic racism doesn't exist. (I hear from these folks every time I write about this topic).
The event also featured a panel of housing luminaries: Alanna McCargo, formerly of Urban Institute and now HUD, Svenja Gudell of Zillow, Noerena Limon of NAHREP, Michael Neal of Urban Institute, and Andre Perry of the Brookings Institution, discussing what's wrong with the current appraisal process and how it might be fixed.
One of the points they discussed was the use of comparable home sales to determine valuation and how that practice disproportionately harms Black consumers. Just yesterday we reported on a case HUD is investigating after an Oakland resident filed a complaint alleging appraiser bias. The appraiser used comps from a predominantly Black neighborhood, which the homeowner said undervalued her home by more than $400,000.
A lot of hot topics were covered in this event: comps, the role of AVMs, appraiser accountability, federal appraiser standards and more. It's clear HUD is taking its responsibility to ensure housing equity very seriously. We'll continue to cover this important topic.
The interagency task force to combat inequity in appraisals, led by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, will be co-chaired by former United Nations ambassador Susan Rice.
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