Trump administration ‘effectively disbands’ the PAVE task force

The Trump administration announced Thursday that it has ended the major policy provisions of the Biden-era Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) task force, “effectively disbanding” a program that sought to eliminate racial bias in the appraisal process.

The directive primarily applies to two rules. One required appraisers and mortgage lenders to comply with the Fair Housing Act and anti-discrimination laws. The other required appraisers to identify, document and correct biases or discrimination that could factor into an appraised value.

Scott Turner, secretary of the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Jeffrey Clark of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued the order, saying it complies with President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for the end of regulation related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

“By tearing down these onerous hurdles, we’re freeing professionals from a tangle of red tape that drove up costs, inhibited access to homeownership and discouraged market participation,” Turner said in a statement. 

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the Biden-era’s obsession with DEI and overregulation is over. At HUD, we’re restoring common sense and putting the American Dream of homeownership back within reach.”

PAVE launched in 2021 as an interagency task force seeking to address racial and ethnic bias in home valuations, particularly in neighborhoods of color. Former HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge and former White House advisor Susan Rice co-chaired the group.

The group concluded that there were huge discrepancies in appraisal values between Black and white neighborhoods as a result of systematic racial biases. But the conclusion was panned by some in the industry for, in part, relying on a study by the liberal think tank Brookings Institution. Critics claimed that the study’s use of Zillow’s Zestimate invalidated it.

A study by the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) concluded that gaps in valuations were the result of socioeconomic differences, not racial bias.

Trump’s assault on DEI-related policies didn’t leave much doubt that PAVE would eventually come under fire. The website for the task force went dark shortly after Trump began his second term, and it was widely assumed it would be shuttered altogether.

It’s unclear whether PAVE is operational in any form. HUD did not immediately respond HousingWire‘s request for comment.