HUD Partners with NAREB Over Appraisal Bias
Scheduled to launch in Oct., the partnership will focus on appraisal discrimination through counselor training, roundtable discussions and appraisal-related training.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) announced a partnership aimed at tackling appraisal bias and discrimination in the housing market.
This collaboration, set to launch Oct. 23, will lead to education, outreach and other 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,” says 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 include online training for counselors, roundtable discussions on bias and discrimination, educational material distribution and appraisal-related training.
HUD says the training sessions will include:
- A discussion of strategies to combat appraisal bias
- Best practices for housing counselors to help impacted clients
- 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, with an eye toward a greater understanding of appraisal bias in specific geographic areas.
HUD Secretary Fudge serves as the co-chair of PAVE, a new interagency task force comprised of 13 agencies dedicated to ending bias in home valuations. Since announcing the PAVE Action Plan in March 2022, the PAVE Task Force has made progress. The White House says it has:
- Committed to making appraisal data from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) available to the public
- Supported a well-trained and dynamic appraiser profession
- Empowered consumers to take actions, such as filing fair housing claims through the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
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