When Paul Austin and Tenisha Tate-Austin bought their home in Marin City, California, they intentionally invested in one of the area’s historically Black communities. They spent years pouring $400,000 into renovations that should’ve raised the home’s value.
But when they refinanced in 2020, appraiser Janette Miller valued the house at $995,000. The couple thought the number seemed oddly low considering all that they’d put in. So they decided to test it.
They took down family photos and artwork and removed nearly every trace of Black art, identity, and culture from the home. A white friend posed as the owner for a second appraisal. Weeks later, a new number came back.
$1,482,500. The appraisal jumped by nearly $500,000, almost exactly the value of their renovations. It was then that the Austins knew they had a case. They sued under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), a nearly 60-year-old law intended to end housing discrimination.
Since the FHA was passed in 1968, the gap in Black homeownership has only widened due to a long history of predatory lending and redlining still influencing how housing systems function. Like the Austins, when we equip ourselves with the knowledge of the systems working against us, we can outsmart them and win.