A Wasted Opportunity to Improve Housing Outcomes for Minorities
March 29, 2022
The home-valuation industry has become the federal government’s latest target for a massive and unjustified power grab. Unless stopped, the government, not markets, will set home prices, which could have catastrophic consequences.
To justify its takeover, the government is trying to scapegoat the appraisal industry—which is 97% white, 70% male and not well-organized—for having caused large disparities in racial wealth and homeownership. Cue last week’s report from the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity, or PAVE, led by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge and the director of the president’s Domestic Policy Council, Susan Rice, which asserted the existence of “inequities within current home lending and appraisal processes” for communities of color.
The government’s case is unsubstantiated. . .
Mr. Pinto is an American Enterprise Institute senior fellow and director of the AEI Housing Center. Mr. Peter is an AEI research fellow and assistant director at the Housing Center.
