WASHINGTON—NCUA has joined with numerous other federal agencies and departments in a letter to The Appraisal Foundation saying it has failed to “include clear warnings about the requirements of federal law in the standards it sets, and in the training it provides for appraisers.”
The letter, which also included as signatories the CFPB, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, FDIC, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Finance Agency and Federal Reserve, was sent to The Appraisal Foundation (TAF)--a private non-governmental entity with the sole power to set professional standards for appraisers” in relation to its authority regarding appraisal discrimination.
The agencies provided specific feedback on TAF’s proposed changes for the 2023 Edition of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), pointing to a provision under the USPAP that states an “appraiser may not rely on unsupported conclusions relating to characteristics such as race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, familiar status, age, receipt of public assistance income, disability or an unsupported conclusion that homogeneity of such characteristics is necessary to maximize value.”
‘A Key Issue’
The signatories on the letter, all part of the interagency task force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE), stated the provisions do not prohibit appraisers from relying on “supported conclusions” based on such characteristics, and suggested that such “reliance may be permissible.”
“This has been a key issue for the administration as President Joe Biden tasked HUD with identifying solutions to appraisal bias,” NAFCU noted. “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have also committed to fighting racial inequity in housing and have issued analyses on trends regarding appraisal bias and valuation gaps as can be seen in this report by Freddie Mac.”
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