PHOTO: House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., arrives for a news conference to talk about housing funds in President Joe Biden's government overhaul, at the Capitol in Washington, Oct. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Congresswoman Maxine Waters is on a mission to help end racial discrimination in home appraisals.
The longtime California representative wrote a letter announcing her intention to propose legislation to combat the issue to Marcia Fudge, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as well as the Appraisal Subcommittee, the Appraisal Foundation, and the Appraisal Institute, according to a press release.
“Some may say that the words of one appraiser do not reflect or represent the profession. However, years of data, ongoing research, and numerous settled lawsuits provide ample evidence to the contrary,” Waters’ letter states. “The email I reference shines a spotlight on the racist stereotypes and harmful lines of thinking prevalent in an industry which systematically devalues the homes of Black people and other people of color.
“It does not reflect the ideals upon which our nation was founded nor the objectives of current statutory and regulatory standards. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the behaviors that make this inequity a reality,” the letter continues.
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Waters serves as the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, which “oversees all components of the nation’s housing and financial services sectors including banking, insurance, real estate, public and assisted housing, and securities,” according to its website.
Moving forward, the committee will “hold the appraisal industry fully accountable,” Waters said.
Racism in home appraisals is nothing new. However, the issue has been getting more mainstream attention lately. In some instances, Black families have asked white friends to pose as the owners of their homes and received much higher appraisals as a result.
In her letter, Rep. Waters included proof of her reasoning for pursuing the upcoming legislation.
“As an example of these ongoing trends, I am forwarding to you an email recently sent by an appraiser to Dr. Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, one of our nation’s foremost experts on bias and discrimination in the housing appraisal industry. In his email, the appraiser characterizes ‘minority’ children as ‘illigitimant’ [sic] and ‘poorly educated’ and refers to the names of Black people as ‘obserd’ [sic],” Waters wrote.
This was just one example of many, Waters said, and she will not let such behavior continue to go unchecked. “Given this email incident and ongoing reports of appraisal discrimination, I will be introducing legislation to address systemic appraisal discrimination,” Waters wrote.
Korver-Glenn, who authored the book “Race Brokers” to highlight discrimination in housing finance in 2021, said the email she received is indicative of a much larger problem, Bloomberg reported.
“It’s important to note that systemic racism doesn’t mean all appraisers express explicitly racist ideas like the appraiser who emailed me,” said Korver-Glenn. “To me, the story is not just or mainly about this individual appraiser. It is about the racist context from which his remarks emerged.”
PHOTO: House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., arrives for a news conference to talk about housing funds in President Joe Biden’s government overhaul, at the Capitol in Washington, Oct. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
