ICYMI: Vice President Harris Announces Actions to Tackle Racial Bias in Home Valuations

Yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a series of new actions the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to root out racial bias in home valuations—ensuring that all hardworking families can realize the true value of their investment and have a fair shot at the American dream.

The Vice President announced that the Administration issued a proposed rule requiring banks to confirm their appraisal algorithms are not biased; new guidance to make it easier for consumers to appeal what they suspect to be a biased valuation; and the release of the valuation data on 600,000 homes, contributing to the nation's first publicly available home appraisal dataset.

The announcements come on the two year anniversary of President Biden and Vice President Harris creating the Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity Task Force (PAVE), which focuses on identifying and rooting out systemic home appraisal bias. Last year, Vice President Harris announced the PAVE Action Plan, which included the most wide-ranging set of actions ever announced to advance equity and root out racial and ethnic bias in home valuations.

Read more below:

The New York Times: Kamala Harris Says 'Inequality Persists' in Home Appraisals
[Debra Kamin, 6/1/23]

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday announced a series of new actions designed to root out racial bias from the home appraisal industry, including ensuring the data used in appraisal software doesn't perpetuate discrimination and making information about home valuations and the race and ethnicity of homeowners available to the broader public.

"For generations, many people of color have been prevented from taking full advantage of the benefits of homeownership," Ms. Harris said in her announcement. "Today that legacy of inequity persists in part in the home appraisal system." […]

[…] "Everyone should be able to take full advantage of their aspiration and their dream of owning a home," Ms. Harris said Thursday. "Taken together, these are important steps toward a more just and equitable home valuation system."

Associated Press: New federal proposal aims to stop racial bias in formulas used to value homes
[Josh Boak, 6/1/2023]

Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that federal agencies are taking new steps to stop racial discrimination in appraising home values by proposing a rule intended to ensure that the automated formulas used to price housing are fair. […]

[…] "Everyone should be able to take full advantage of their aspiration and dream of owning a home," Harris told reporters on a telephone call.

The Biden administration is also having federal agencies make it easier for homebuyers to appeal racial bias in appraisals and is providing the public with more data in order to increase transparency. The administration is also seeking to make it easier for people in underrepresented groups to become appraisers. […]

The Hill: Harris announces new actions to tackle racial bias in home appraisals
[Alex Gangitano, 6/1/2023]

Vice President Harris on Thursday announced a new rule to require financial institutions to ensure their home appraisal algorithms are not contributing to racial bias in home valuations. […]

Harris also announced actions to expand the ability of consumers appealing what they suspect to be a bias valuation. Agencies plan to issue proposed guidance on how financial institutions can integrate reconsiderations of value policies. […]

"Systemic change is needed," Harris told reporters, sharing a story of a Black family whose home was appraised higher when their photographs were replaced with a white family's. […]

NBC News: Kamala Harris: New rule will tackle racial bias in home valuations
[Katherine Doyle, 6/1/2023]

[…] "Today, I'm proud to announce we are developing a rule that will require that financial institutions ensure that their appraisal algorithms are not biased, for example, that they do not produce lower valuations for homes owned by people of color," Harris said on a call with reporters Thursday. "We are also releasing the guidance to make it easier for consumers to appeal what they suspect to be unbiased valuation." […]

Harris said only about 5% of home appraisers are people of color, a share the administration hopes to grow through training opportunities for groups underrepresented in the industry. The vice president said the goal is "to make sure that people who conduct home appraisals better reflect the communities they serve." […]

An action plan released by Harris last year sought to uncover and end racial or ethnic bias in the home valuation process with new tools for consumers, and data assessments to identify and stop biased assessors as well as boost diversity in the appraiser profession.

Axios: White House reveals plan to fight racism in home appraisals
[Nathan Bomey, 6/1/2023]

[…] "Home appraisals are meant to be fair and objective estimates of the market value of a property," Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters Thursday. "However, far too often they are not."

[…] "We are building and expanding training pipelines for underrepresented groups to make sure that people who conduct home appraisals better reflect the communities they serve," Harris added. […]

USA Today: When home appraisals are not equal: Biden administration rolls out plan to fight discrimination
[Jessica Guynn, 6/1/2023]

[…] "Home appraisals are meant to be fair and objective estimates of the market value of a property. However, far too often, they are not," Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday on a press call. "Black homeowners are more likely to have their homes undervalued than other homeowners. And homeowners in majority Black and majority Latino neighborhoods are almost twice as likely to be undervalued." […]

[…] "Homeownership is one of the single most powerful engines of wealth-building available to American families," Harris said. "Millions rely on the equity in their homes to put their children through college, to fund a startup, to retire with dignity, to create intergenerational prosperity and wealth. We also know, for generations, many people of color have been prevented from taking full advantage of the benefits of homeownership." […]

Spectrum: Biden admin. announces initiatives to strip bias from home appraisals
[Ryan Chatelain, 6/1/2023]

[…] Vice President Kamala Harris has led the administration's efforts to strip bias from home valuations.

"Everyone should be able to take full advantage of their aspiration and dream of owning a home," Harris told reporters on a telephone call. […]