Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano looks at racial inequalities in housing appraisal process

The Franklin County Auditor’s Office has partnered with the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity to help eliminate inequalities in the housing appraisal process. 

On Monday, Auditor Michael Stinziano and researchers from the Columbus-based Kirwan Institute held the Making of Metropolitan Inequality conference, the first of a two-part series aimed at discussing the policies that created redlined communities and suggestions on what’s next.  

This initiative began when Stinziano first took office in 2019. He commissioned a performance audit of the last full reappraisal in 2017, with the hopes to build on the work previously done to improve local conditions.  

After reviewing the audit, Stinziano noticed certain home structures were being graded differently based on their location, a direct result of the implicit bias connected to modern day redlining, he said. While not in law, it’s still practiced today.

“Implicit bias is something, as an office, we are concerned about,” Stinziano said. “I think the concern is that it’s built off a foundation that had these experiences and decisions and, while maybe not intended and practiced in law, that foundation continues to drive what we see.” 

Redlining is a discriminatory practice started in the 1930s when banks marked off neighborhoods, using a red marker or pen on a map, to avoid lending residents money based on their race, ethnicity or religion. It wasn’t until the passing of the Community Reinvestment Act in 1977 that banks were required to invest in their surrounding communities.

The CRA requires banks to lend to poor neighborhoods and low-income individuals in the areas they do business. The law has led to underserved residents receiving access to credit and loans for affordable housing, small business ventures and economic development.  

Stinziano's spokeswoman, Monica Moran, said the department understands how housing is a social determinant of health, and where residents live dictates where they go to school, the healthcare they receive and food they have access to.  

“We know neighborhoods have different values, but the structure of a home and the grade of that should be consistent,” Moran said. “We shouldn’t devalue or have inconsistencies just based on where they are located. We saw that and thought maybe we should dig into that a little further.” 

Moran said the auditor’s office is making efforts to level the playing field. Along with revamping current housing policies, the department is looking to improve community engagement and give residents a look into the history of housing policies in area neighborhoods, resulting in the partnership with Kirwan Institute.  

Stinziano said the office connected with Kirwan Institute researchers to outline the past policies that resulted in the discord between local lenders and the communities they serve.  

During Monday’s presentation, Glennon Sweeney, senior Kirwan Institute research associate, pointed to residential segregation, zoning, urban displacement and other restrictions to show how minorities have been discounted by lenders and appraisers. 

“Columbus isn’t unique in that we experience this,” Sweeney said. “Every city does. I wish we acknowledged this history more openly and more regularly, that this is how we got to where we are.” 

Sweeney said the county needs to look for ways to fund the city’s underserved communities, which will promote generational wealth, and drive policy reform. 

– The Columbus Dispatch