Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) agreed to work together to address appraisal bias and discrimination.
According to a HUD statement, Fudge, who recently spoke at NAREB’s 75th National Convention, is committed to fighting housing discrimination and bias through education, outreach, and other activities. Fudge added the agency will conduct online training for housing counselors to understand racial appraisal bias in home valuations betters.
“I live in a Black neighborhood by choice; my home is bigger, my lot is bigger, yet my home is valued less than the white neighborhood down the block; this must change,” Secretary Fudge admitted in her speech.
HUD and NAREB will also hold roundtable discussions at regional HUD Office of Housing Counseling (OHC) meetings across the U.S. to help homeowners better understand appraisal bias in specific areas, build public-private partnerships to fight appraisal bias, and discuss how housing counselors can best help families impacted by housing discrimination and prejudice.
Housing appraisal bias has been a hot topic in recent years as Black homeowners have exposed racist appraisers who lowered the value of their homes through whitewashing, a practice where a Black family that owns a home will take out all identifiers and have a white friend pretend it’s their home.
The National Fair Housing Training Academy will also collaborate with the NAREB to train its Fair Housing Initiative Program (FHIP) and Fair Housing Assistance Program participants to identify bias and discrimination in appraisals.
In her speech, Fudge also committed to fighting racial disparities in housing for marginalized communities, adding, “There’s a new sheriff in town, and her administration is committed to ensuring they make a difference in the lives of Black and Brown people. “
Fudge added that HUD and its partners will also address credit and financial challenges Black borrowers face when purchasing a home.
“Some Black borrowers lack credit, but now when obtaining an FHA loan, rental history can be used as a credit history.” The policy change is a method to expand access to credit and homeownership opportunities for individuals with limited credit history.
