By Josh Boak
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.
Announcement of the proposed rule comes a year after the administration laid out a plan to stop appraisers from systemically undervaluing the homes of Black people and other underrepresented groups. Low appraisals make it harder for these homeowners to build wealth and access home equity lines of credit, worsening racial inequality. Appraisers help to determine the value of a home so buyers can receive a mortgage.
The extent of the discrimination by appraisers can be massive, in some instances more than halving the value of a property. In Indianapolis, one Black homeowner found the appraised value of her home jumped to $259,000 from $125,000, after she declined to disclose her race on her application and removed all family photos and African American art in the home.
Because many financial institutions and mortgage companies use formulas to judge the value of a home, the proposed rule would set out new standards to prevent discrimination. Companies that rely on appraisals would need to adopt policies to improve the accuracy of their appraisals, stop data manipulation and avoid conflicts of interest.
The proposed rule would have a 60-day comment period.
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.
In June 2021, President Joe Biden announced the formation of the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity, known as PAVE, to address the challenge of bias in appraisals.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Donald Trump has a message for critics who think turning the U.S. government into a major stockholder of Intel is a “socialist” move: More is coming.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's lawyer says she'll sue President Donald Trump's administration to try to prevent him from firing her. Longtime Washington attorney Abbe Lowell said Tuesday that Trump “has no authority to remove” Cook. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the Fed's board of governors, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. The Republican president said Monday he was removing Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud. Cook was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 and says she won't step down.
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook late Wednesday said she wouldn’t leave her post after Trump on social media called on her to resign over an accusation from one his officials that she committed mortgage fraud.
