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.
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
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.
