Partnership will increase education, outreach, and other efforts to tackle appraisal bias and discrimination.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) unveiled today a partnership aimed at tackling appraisal bias and discrimination in the housing market. This historic collaboration, set to launch in the coming months, will increase education, outreach, and efforts to combat racial appraisal bias in home property valuation.
“Owning a home provides a path to the American dream. Yet, Black and Brown people have consistently had their homes under-valued because of racial appraisal bias, locking them out of opportunities to build generational wealth,” said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “This partnership is a bold step toward remedying appraisal discrimination, closing the wealth gap, and achieving racial equity.”
The partnership will be officially launched in October 2023 and will include online training for counselors, roundtable discussions on bias and discrimination, educational material distribution, and appraisal-related training. The aim is to promote fairness in the housing market.
Specifically, training sessions will include discussion of strategies to combat appraisal bias; best practices for housing counselors to help clients impacted; and available resources that can support housing counselors and their clients. In addition, HUD’s Office of Housing Counseling and National Fair Housing Training Academy will work with NAREB on holding regional roundtables across the country to gain greater understanding of appraisal bias in specific geographic areas; build public-private partnerships and collaboration in efforts to combat appraisal bias; and share best practices for housing counselors to help impacted clients.
HUD Secretary Fudge serves as the co-chair of PAVE, a first-of-its-kind interagency task force comprised of 13 agencies dedicated to ending bias in home valuation. Since the PAVE Action Plan was announced in March 2022 by the Biden-Harris Administration, the PAVE Task Force has made critical progress. In particular, the Administration’s efforts have included committing to making appraisal data from the Federal Housing Administration available to the public, supporting a well-trained and dynamic appraiser profession and empowering consumers to take actions, such as filing fair housing claims through the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
People who believe they are the victims of housing discrimination should contact HUD at (800) 669-9777 (voice) 800-927-9275 (TTY) or the Department of Justice at (800) 896-7743 or (202) 514-4713. Additional information is available at www.hud.gov/fairhousing and www.justice.gov. Materials and assistance are available for persons with limited English proficiency. Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing may contact the Department using the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.