The old saying goes, “Home is where the heart is.” For many Americans, their homes are where everything in their lives rests: families, history, future, and finances. The personal and spiritual value of one’s home is immeasurable. However, the financial value tends to fluctuate depending on who you are and where your home is located.
For many Black families, the financial value of their homes has been devalued. A recent Brookings study broke down the bias toward Black-owned homes, their valuations, and the racial bias pointed directly towards Black neighborhoods. Metro Atlanta has many such neighborhoods.
Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock, whose church, Ebenezer Baptist Church, is located in the Sweet Auburn District, where Black homeownership remains strong generations after segregation forced families to move, live, and thrive there, wants to do something about how Black-owned homes are appraised.
“Home valuations are a critical part of the mortgage lending process and ensuring families can build generational wealth through homeownership,” Warnock told The Atlanta Voice during a recent interview. “But we know appraisals do not always protect or benefit everyone equally, particularly Black people and communities of color.”
Earlier this year, Warnock introduced a legislative package that addressed housing affordability and availability across the country. Today, Warnock and five other Senators introduced new legislation that will address appraisal biases in both home buying and home selling. That legislation will undoubtedly have an immediate impact on Black homeowners and future homeowners.
“My legislation is an important next step in helping Georgia families and all Americans realize the full value of their homes,” he said. “It empowers Georgians with more data and tools to fight bias that would lower their homes’ values. It is no silver bullet, and more work must be done, but it is an important step forward in helping families build generational wealth through homeownership.”
Warnock says the goal of the legislation, the Appraisal Modernization Act, is to fight appraisal bias in the country, especially in Georgia. The act can educate Georgians with data that will hopefully increase transparency while empowering consumers.
“Several studies have identified a clear relationship between lower valuations and Black neighborhoods and revealed overt references to race in appraisals,” Warnock said. “One study found that homes in majority-Black neighborhoods are around two times more likely to be undervalued than homes in majority-white neighborhoods. And another report shows racial inequality in appraised values has increased 75% over the last decade.”
Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Maryland), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Andy Kim (D-New Jersey), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Delaware), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) have co-sponsored the Appraisal Modernization Act.
“For most Americans, the largest driver of wealth is their home. This makes it important to have accurate, unbiased home valuations, and that is why I am proud to champion this legislation to level the playing field and put more money back into the pockets of hardworking Georgians,” Warnock said.
The legislation is also being endorsed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Association of Mortgage Brokers, the NAACP, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and the National Action Network (NAN).
The legislation is personal to Warnock, a native of Savannah.
“Housing is a personal issue for me, I’ve seen firsthand how difficult it can be for hardworking people to build generational wealth through homeownership,” Warnock said. “My parents were no strangers to hard work, and despite the fact that my parents worked hard every day, they weren’t able to buy a home and build generational wealth until much later in their lives.”