White House task force works to tackle discrimination in house appraisals

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The White House is promising bold new steps to fight housing discrimination, specifically focused appraisals and what’s commonly called “white washing.”

It’s a problem happening nationwide, and it’s hurting Black and brown homeowners.

News 8 in May told the story of Carlette Duffy, which helped re-ignite a national debate. She filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and alleged discrimination in her home appraisal.

“How do we change the policy and practices that allow this level of subjectivity,” Duffy said in May.

Her three appraisals showed stark differences. She got the highest appraisal after removing all signs of her ethnicity from her home and having a white friend stand in for her.

President Joe Biden issued a directive, and HUD will release new rules in March through the first interagency task force called PAVE. The acronym stands for Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity. The task force’s goal is to give specific actions for government and housing agencies to “root out dissemination in home valuations.”

Cherrish Pryor, minority floor leader in the Indiana House of Representatives, said, “This is going to be, I believe, more concrete than what has been done before.”

The Democrat from Indianapolis has championed work to improve housing appraisal equity and followed Duffy’s story. “She knew that her home was being undervalued. She knew that and I don’t know that a lot of people really know and understand that.”

Pryor said she first learned out the upcoming PAVE plan in 2021 and is hopeful it’ll create change, but understands they’ll need more than a plan. “Until we have something at the state level that has that enforcement component or that penalty component, people are still going to be caught in that trick bag.”

The state representative said seeing a more diverse population becoming appraisers could also help create a more equitable appraisal process.