The PAVE task force5 is intended to tackle racial and ethnic biases in home valuations. This was after a report from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation which found that appraisals for home purchases in majority-Black and majority-Latino neighborhoods were roughly twice as likely to result in a valuation below the actual contract price compared to appraisals in predominantly white neighborhoods. In short, if you were a black family, appraisers were telling you that your house was worth less than a comparable house in a comparable neighborhood that was owned by a white family.
In practice, what these changes looked like were things like drafting guidance empowering consumers to take action against appraisal bias, increasing transparency, requiring VA (Veterans’ Affairs) appraisers to undergo appraisal bias training, et al. [Source]
Carson is arguing here that guarding against racial discrimination “threatens” real estate appraisals, which is transparently ridiculous. I feel like I should point out that he, himself, is a Black person. It’s unclear what he thinks “reversing” these practices will do. Bring back that sweet racial discrimination?
Full contextual analysis of Section 3.6: Department of Housing and Urban Development here.