That’s because an age old law in America (whether or not it is fully followed all the time is a different story) is supposed to prevent things like Black or BIPOC (or any minority for that matter) from being discriminated against when it comes to housing. The law is called the Fair Housing Act which came into force in the last century. A lawsuit published in December though alleges that a couple who tried to get their house appraised experienced just that.
Racism in home valuation. According to reports, Tenisha Tate-Austin and her husband, Paul Austin spent much of the past two years or so renovating their lovely home and adding new additions to said home. Now one would assume when one adds renovations to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars — the value of said home would dramatically increase.
The couple alleges when they brought in an appraiser it did not and they were undervalued on their home by a long shot. Curious to see if things would change the couple noted in their lawsuit that they had a white friend pose in their home as if the home belonged to her — and to their shock — the same appraiser valued their home at $500,000 additional monies than they had been appraised for.
As a result of this and the lawsuit, the Department of Justice has reportedly filed a statement of interest in the case considering it is a clear cut violation of the law. The appraiser in question, who does not appear to have been identified, claims that the Fair Housing Act oddly enough “does not apply to residential situations.”
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