NCCU School of Law Dean Patricia Timmons-Goodson (left) and HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman (right) display a memorandum of understanding between NCCU and HUD. (Photo: Greg Childress)
N.C. Central University law school students will train to fight housing bias and discrimination as part of a new partnership between the university and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The groundbreaking initiative between the historically Black university in Durham and HUD was announced Thursday at the law school under a banner of “Bringing Homes to Homecoming.” NCCU is celebrating homecoming this week.
Congresswoman Valerie Foushee speaks during partnership announcement. (Photo: Greg Childress)
Under the partnership, each year, 15 students will participate in fair housing litigation courses offered through HUD’s National Fair Housing Training Academy (NFHTA). The courses will be taught by NCCU and NFHTA faculty.
The partnership is intended to increase NCCU’s capacity to deliver fair housing courses and to connect law students to local and national fair housing organizations. Students will also have internship and career opportunities with HUD as a result of the partnership.
“I hope that sitting in front of me today is the next assistant secretary for fair housing, that we put somebody on a path that they’re so excited about making sure people are doing the right thing and this country is doing the right thing, that it lights a fire under them and they’re able to join us at HUD one day,” HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman told NC Newsline. “More importantly, we want them out there following up on complaints, litigating complaints and being part of the fair housing community.”
Todman said the partnership is the first time in memory that HUD has formally partnered with an institution to create a pipeline for students to enter a fair housing career.
“Keeping America fair is a tough job, and people get burned out,” Todman said. “There is a good tenure of folks who do his work whether they’re at HUD or the local level or nonprofit or the state. We need to make sure we’re getting folks interested in this [fair housing], not just as a job but as a fulfilling career.”
Combating appraisal bias
Bias and discrimination in lending and home appraisals remain major barriers to intergenerational wealth building for African Americans, Todman said. The practices are being aggressively targeted by HUD, she said.
“One of the things we’ve taken on is this thing called appraisal bias,” Todman said. “This is when appraisers will low ball a Black home that’s in the same neighborhood as white homes and when you consider all things being equal, it [the low appraisal] occurs just because the folks living in that home just happen to be African American.”
A 2022 Brookings Institution study found that homes in Black neighborhoods are valued roughly 21% to 23% below what their valuations would be in non-Black neighborhoods. Neighborhoods with a majority of Latino or Hispanic, Asian American, or white residents do not experience home price devaluation using the same model, the researchers found.
The Biden-Harris administration created a task force in 2022 to take a deep dive into appraisal bias and other forms of housing discrimination. Lenders doing business with HUD must now provide a path for homeowners to request a “reconsideration of value,” which is essentially a do-over on appraisals they believe are unfair, Todman said.
“But even beyond that, we are making headwinds in diversifying the appraisal industry,” Todman said. “It is less than one percent Black and we’re trying to make sure that we’re diversifying it.”
The secretary said there are a lot of “bad actors” still out there and a lot of money being “left on the table” due to discriminatory practices in housing.”
“We’re trying to make sure that we have the next cadre and cohort of young people to take this work on,” Todman said.
Helping to build generation wealth
Meanwhile, Robert Doles, director of HUD’s Office of Systemic Investigations, said property retention is also critical to building generational wealth in communities of color.
“Once you have property, maintaining it so you can pass it down is also important,” Doles said.
Robert Doles (Photo: Greg Childress)
Doles noted recent HUD wins in the fight against housing discrimination. Earlier this month, he said, HUD resolved a redlining complaint in New Jersey that resulted in $15 million in loan subsidies. HUD also recently resolved a matter with The Appraisal Foundation, which sets standards for entry into the profession.
“They’re [the Foundation] creating a scholarship fund that will hopefully diversify the industry so that we will have more people of color appraising the homes of people in communities of color,” Doles said.
Congresswoman Valerie Foushee, (D-NC4), said that discriminatory practices have longed undermined the promise of fair housing.
“Many of these systemic wrongs are deeply rooted in our history and have marginalized communities, hindered fair access to housing and perpetuated a cycle of inequality,” Foushee said.
She applauded the Biden-Harris administration for taking “bold and decisive action to “strengthen and enforce fair housing laws, increase funding for housing initiatives serving historically underserved communities and dismantling outdated policies and practices that sustain inequities.”
NCCU School of Law Dean Patricia Timmons-Goodson said the university is proud to be the first to partner with HUD on such a meaningful project.
“We are hugely optimistic that great benefits will accrue to our law students and the broader community,” Timmons-Goodson said.