Leading Civil Rights and Consumer Advocates Issue Statement Declining to Join The Appraisal Foundation’s Consumer Council

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

February 3, 2023  

Contact: jbrevard@nationalfairhousing.org 

Washington, D.C.  — Today, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), joined leading civil rights and consumer advocates and issued the following statement on their letter to The Appraisal Foundation (TAF) declining to join TAF’s consumer council:

“We are at this time declining the invitation to join The Appraisal Foundation (TAF)’s Council to Advance Residential Equity (Council). Recent research and news stories highlight how appraisal bias impacts consumers and communities of color and exacerbates the racial wealth gap. The need to reform the appraisal process and appraiser oversight is urgent and immediate. We commend TAF for taking certain initial steps toward reform. However, we remain concerned about several aspects of TAF’s structures and policies, including the following:

• Governance – We are deeply concerned that TAF has not yet reformed two critical aspects of its ‘pay-to-play’ structure. First, industry sponsors pay an initial application fee and annual ‘donations’ for the right to appoint a trustee to the Board of Trustees.  Second, TAF keeps the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and related guidance behind a paywall. We are not aware of any other standard-setting organization that uses this structure.
• Appraiser Qualification Criteria – TAF’s Appraiser Qualification Criteria pose at least three major challenges. First, despite the longstanding diversity issues, TAF has not begun a public, transparent collaboration with civil rights experts to review each barrier to entry to the profession. Second, TAF has yet to release robust and comprehensive fair housing training for appraisers. Third, as various groups encourage women and people of color to enter the appraiser profession, TAF has yet to focus on preparing new entrants to succeed in an era of data, innovation, and technology.
• Appraisal Standards – TAF has yet to propose an exposure draft or advisory opinion that would provide guidance to appraisers to limit discretion in order to provide more accurate appraisals and prevent harm to consumers and communities.

“We remain committed to working in an independent capacity with TAF to provide feedback, advice, and the civil rights and consumer perspective. We will continue to attend meetings when invited and to comment on public exposure drafts. We look forward to continued collaboration as TAF works to develop more equitable, transparent, and democratic structures and policies.”

This statement was issued jointly by the following organizations:

NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.

National Community Reinvestment Coalition

National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients)

National Fair Housing Alliance

The letter was signed jointly by the following organizations:

Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund

Center for Responsible Lending

Chicago Rehab Network

Long Island Housing Services, Inc.

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc.

National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD)

National Community Reinvestment Coalition (MEDIA CONTACT: Alan Pyke, apyke@ncrc.org)

National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients)

National Fair Housing Alliance

UnidosUS

### 

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal housing opportunities for all people.  As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.