for years research has consistently shown black homeowners are facing discrimination during the home appraisal process despite federal laws on the books designed to prevent it data compiled over a 5-year period on millions of homes revealed black and Latino owned properties receive appraisal values far lower than their white counterparts as senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports the state is launching a new program to address the problem after a bill to prevent the discrimination stalled in the legislature I definitely have experienced uh appraisal bias here in Newark Vivian Cox Fraser says she's seen homes in predominantly black neighborhoods get lowball appraisals versus comparable homes in mostly white neighborhoods National Studies have backed that up Realtors will sometimes advise a black family to hide evidence of their existence before appraisers walk through their homes the realtor will say remove all your person personal items any photos anything from your house basically whitewash your house so that when the appraiser comes in you'll get a higher value your appraisal might be less simply because you're black and that's absurd that shouldn't be what is happening that is racism at its core and it is absolutely a fact that we've seen discrimination in this process New Jersey's attorney General Matt Platkin says he's launched a new initiative against appraisers who undervalue homes based on protected classes like race gender or religion the notice warns New Jersey Law prohibits discrimination not just by the appraisers who conduct the appraisal but also by the other entities involved in selecting an appraiser and using the appraisal to decide whether and on what terms to extend a mortgage or other financing to a prospective borrower they're subject to to our civil rights laws and we're going to enforce them and protect people uh as they're going through whether it be a home purchase or a home sale as well as ensure that communities of color are not being artificially devalued the attorney generals created a new task force to investigate cases of alleged bias and home appraisals and refer them to the state's division on civil rights when even one home's under appraised it can drag down property values across the whole neighborhood and bar black families from closing a wide racial wealth Gap that's persisted across decades in New Jersey that's a college education that's retirement that's buying a whole new house for your kids that is genuine wealth that you can pass on to your to the Next Generation that's being denied Advocates applaud the Attorney General's decision to target potentially biased appraisals plat can acted after New Jersey lawmakers failed to pass a bill that would have punished violators with steep penalties Republican Bob Singer opposed the bill where is this rampant in New Jersey and and let's understand something is the Task Force going to be with appraisers Realtors Mortgage Bankers and bankers those are all the people affected by this singers in the banking business he's not convinced there's a problem and predicts appraisers will start avoiding minority neighborhoods we're all against discrimination that that there no question it's against the law now but show us where it's happening let's correct it instead we're taking this Sledgehammer say let's go after those Bad actors and let's put let's give him $10,000 fine the initiative is effective immediately and includes anti-discrimination training for appraisers and public education to raise awareness I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight [Music] news