The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) announced a partnership between the agency and organization to address appraisal bias.

Starting in October, HUD and the NAREB are joining efforts to address issues of bias and discrimination in appraisals.

With the goal to promote fairness in the housing market, the plan includes training and discussions on best practices. The training will be offered online for counselors and will include discussions of strategies to combat appraisal bias; best practices for housing counselors to help clients impacted; and available resources that can support housing counselors and their clients.

NAREB and HUD’s collaboration is meant to increase education and outreach. In addition to the trainings, HUD also will organize regional roundtable discussions on bias and discrimination to get a better understanding of the specific challenges for each geographic area and foster public-private partnerships and collaboration in efforts to combat appraisal bias.

“Owning a home provides a path to the American dream,” HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a release. “Yet, Black and Brown people have consistently had their homes under-valued because of racial appraisal bias, locking them out of opportunities to build generational wealth. This partnership is a bold step toward remedying appraisal discrimination, closing the wealth gap, and achieving racial equity.”

This partnership is part of the progress made by the Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) interagency taskforce, established in March 2022 and co-chaired by HUD and Domestic Policy Advisor Ambassador Susan Rice. PAVE’s directive is to evaluate the causes, extent, and consequences of appraisal bias and establish a transformative set of recommendations to root out racial and ethnic bias in home valuations. Since its creation, PAVE also has made efforts to make appraisal data from the Federal Housing Administration available to the public, support a well-trained and dynamic appraiser profession, and empower consumers to take action.