During the launch party for the Economy League’s Fair City Challenge in May, Vonetta Hawkins, founder of Home Sweet Home Realty Group, listened to an audience member express concern over home appraisals.

A Black man, he shared with the audience how, before putting their house on the market, he and his wife took down their family photos: They were afraid the images would affect their home’s appraisal value.

“He was literally planning to remove his Blackness from his own house in May of 2025. This is madness,” Hawkins says.

Appraisal bias — where homes owned by White people are deemed more valuable than those owned by people of color, despite being comparable properties — happens frequently both in Philly and nationwide. A 2024 report from the National Association of Real Estate Brokers

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