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Vice President Kamala Harris is putting forth new actions to tackle racial bias in home appraisals.
On Thursday (June 1), Harris announced a new rule that aims to establish quality control standards for accuracy and fairness in Automated Valuation Models (AVM), which are algorithms used to determine the value of homes, The Hill reports. Under the rule, AVMs would be required to adopt policies and safeguards to conduct random sample testing and prevent data manipulation and conflict of interest.
Harris also announced actions that will give more consumers access to the ability to appeal what they suspect to be a biased valuation.
“Systemic change is needed,” Harris said, citing a story of a Black family whose home was appraised higher when they replaced their photos with a white family.
The administration will add more than 600,000 more records to a public data set of 48 million home appraisal records. It will urge states to remove unnecessary barriers to becoming an appraiser in an effort to boost the number of people of color in the profession.
The new actions come two years after President Joe Biden announced the creation of the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) on the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
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