President Joe Biden‘s administration is taking aim at discriminatory home appraisals that are hurting communities of color.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced on Wednesday morning the release of its interagency plan to level the playing field so that homes owned by people of color aren’t valued less than similar properties with white owners. Many of the recommendations in the plan are expected to be enacted by Biden’s administration.

“Homeownership gives people a pathway to build wealth. But for too long, biased appraisals have obstructed that pathway for people of color,” HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge tweeted on Wednesday morning.

The appraisal industry, which is about 97% white, has come under fire recently. Many minority homeowners have said they received low appraisals, which they challenged. When they took down photos of their families and had white friends be in their homes when the appraisers came, they said they received significantly higher home valuations.

The Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity, which came up with the plan, was formed last summer to look into the problem and come up with solutions. Its PAVE Action Plan aims to hold the appraisal industry more accountable for biased appraisals by changing the oversight structure and improving coordination with federal enforcement agencies. It also recommends ending the algorithmic bias in appraisals by using quality controls to root out unintended bias and creating a database to better understand what’s happening in the field.

In addition, the plan would aim to make it easier for people to enter the industry and strengthen anti-discrimination training.

Homes in predominantly Black neighborhoods are underpriced about 23% compared with homes with similar amenities in white neighborhoods, according to a 2018 study from the Brookings Institution, a think tank. That’s shortchanging Black families of about $48,000.

“It’s the money people use to achieve the American dream,” says the author of the report, Andre Perry, a senior fellow at the institution. “Appraisals are just one of the practices that still have a negative effect on Black communities.”

A typical white household now has about eight times more wealth than the average Black family and five times the wealth of the average Latino family, according to the Biden administration.

That’s partly because minorities are less likely to own homes than white Americans often due to generations of systemic racism, segregation, racism, and government and lender policies that made it difficult—if not impossible—for people of color to receive mortgages or buy homes in certain communities.

Communities of color had much lower homeownership rates than white Americans. It was just 43.1% for Black Americans, 48.4% for Hispanic Americans, and 61.2% for Asian Americans in the last quarter of 2021, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. That’s compared with 74.4% for white Americans.

Generations of Americans have used homeownership to build wealth and climb into the middle class. Biased appraisals also hurt minorities by shortchanging them on what is typically a family’s largest asset. This results in having less home equity to tap into for home repairs, an emergency, or to leave to their family.

Perry believes the PAVE Action Plan will go a long way to address these disparities in appraisals.

“It’s a very positive step toward closing the value gap between homes in Black neighborhoods and homes in white neighborhoods,” says Perry. But he would have preferred it go even further.

“It’s unclear how we’re going to restore the value that’s been extracted by racism,” adds Perry. “How do you capture that value back?”

The Appraisal Institute, the trade group that represents the industry, said it was ready to work with financial and government agencies to create a more accountable process, particularly to help folks more easily have their appraisals reconsidered.

“Much work lies ahead, but we will continue to serve as a partner in support of these important goals,” Jody Bishop, president of the Appraisal Institute, said in a statement. However, he pointed out the administration’s plan “calls for significant regulatory and oversight changes, but does not outline specific plans.

“Transparency and accountability are important, but these goals should be balanced with maintaining industry independence and promoting entry into the profession,” he said.

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