How an Art Exhibit Led to a Housing Discrimination Complaint
Artist Harrison K. Smith’s project on racial bias in home appraisals has gotten the attention of a Pittsburgh fair housing group and the federal government.
Harrison K. Smith’s “Homeowner Appraisal (Value Comparison Approach)” displays official documents showing the difference in how a home was appraised, with and without markers signaling that Black people lived there.
Source: Mattress Factory museum
When artist Harrison K. Smith first brought his concerns to government officials regarding racial disparities in how properties are taxed and appraised in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, he says he got no response. Those officials might be more open to hearing him out now that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is looking into a case of possible appraisal discrimination based off of Smith’s work.
For his Sed Valorem art exhibit in Pittsburgh earlier this year, Smith showcased items that Shirley Salmon-Davis, a Black woman, removed from her home that could have identified her race or ethnicity ahead of an appraiser’s visit. That extraction, along with a white woman pretending to be the homeowner, led to a $36,000 higher appraisal than when Salmon-Davis met with an appraiser with her personal belongings on display three days earlier.