A Black Indianapolis homeowner’s property value almost doubled; after she asked a white friend to stand in for appraisal, according to reports.
Carlette Duffy removed her photos and all evidence of her race and asked her white friend to pretend to be her brother during the third appraisal of her property.
After he stood in, the value skyrocketed and shocked her, it was almost double the initial amount.
An Indy woman has filed a complaint with the US Department of #Housing and Urban development. She says race played part in the undervaluing of her home in a #HistoricallyBlack Indianapolis neighborhood. @WISH_TV #HousingDiscrimination #Black pic.twitter.com/5TQULb1YPB
— Katiera Winfrey (@Katiera_Winfrey) May 4, 2021
According to the nonprofit Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI); Ms Duffy’s Indianapolis home was assessed in 2020 by two different companies. One valued it at $125,000 and another at $110,000. When the white man posed as Ms Duffy’s brother, the property was valued at — to her surprise — $259,000.
The Fair Housing Center has now filed a housing discrimination complaint on Ms Duffy’s behalf with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Amy Nelson, executive director of FHCCI, said that it was; “heartbreaking” to see that Ms Duffy had to do so much just to secure a fair appraisal.
After two low appraisals of her property last year, she had a nagging suspicion that race had something to do with it. The third time around, she tried to keep any interactions with the appraiser strictly to email. NBC News reported that she had not declared her race or gender in the appraisal application process.
Ms Nelson told the media on Monday; “In order for the value of her home to be accurate, she had to remove herself completely from the home. She was at first ecstatic that she did in fact get the value that she thought her home deserved…. But then almost immediately after, she was heartbroken with the fact of what she had to do in order to get that value.”
The FHCCI complaint on behalf of Ms Duffy alleges that; she was discriminated against on the basis of race and colour. They argue that the lower valuations amount to violations of Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 as amended by the Fair Housing Act of 1988, NBC News reported.