Measuring Housing Discrimination: Findings from Innovative Methods and Future Directions

Discrimination in Refinance Appraisals

Luis A. Lopez, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Stuart Handler Department of Real Estate in the College of Business Administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Postdoctoral Honoree of the Homer Hoyt Institute (Weimer School). Professor Lopez does research in real estate finance and policy involving topics on racial discrimination, multifamily evictions, and government-insured loans. His work has been published in prominent academic journals, including the Review of Financial Studies, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Real Estate Economics, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, and Regional Science and Urban Economics. Professor Lopez obtained his PhD in Business Administration with an emphasis in Real Estate from Penn State University. He also earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Economics from University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Hidden Biases: Selective Advertising in the Rental Housing Market

Daniel Gold is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on the interaction of regulation with rental market outcomes and the supply of housing. Mr. Gold has published academic research in Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics and Journal of Urban Economics. He received a master’s degree in economics from the University of Toronto as a Fulbright Canada student and previously served as a research analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. He is expected to graduate with his Ph.D. in Spring 2026.

Lu Han, Ph.D. is the Nathan F. Brand Chair Professor in Real Estate and Urban Economics at the Wisconsin School of Business and Faculty Director of the Urban Economics and Real Estate Ph.D. program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the recipient of the 2024 Erwin A. Gaumnitz Distinguished Faculty Research Award in the Wisconsin School of Business. Professor Han currently serves as an Editor for Real Estate Economics and an Associate Editor for Review of Financial Studies. She is also on the Editorial Boards for Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Housing Economics, and Regional Science and Urban Economics. Professor Han holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University. Her research interests are at the interface of urban economics, market microstructure, industrial organization and real estate finance. She has conducted extensive research on topics such as affordability, sustainability, land use, market microstructure, housing and mortgage policies.

Christopher Timmins, Ph.D. is the Gary J Gorman Affordable Housing Professor in the Real Estate and Urban Land Economics Department at the Wisconsin School of Business. Professor Timmins specializes in urban and environmental economics, with a focus on developing new methods for non-market valuation of local public goods and amenities. His recent research has focused on measuring the costs associated with exposure to poor air quality, the benefits associated with remediating brownfields and toxic waste under the Superfund program, the valuation of non-marginal changes in disamenities, and the causes and consequences of “environmental injustice”. Professor Timmins is a research associate in the Environmental and Energy Economics group at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and has served as a reviewer for numerous environmental, urban, and applied microeconomics journals. He served as a co-editor of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management from 2010-2013 and was a co-editor and editor of the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists from 2014-2020. In 2021, he was named a Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economics.

Discriminatory Lending Practices

Sheri L Smith, Ph.D., AICP is currently an Associate Professor at Texas Southern University in the Urban Planning and Environmental Policy Department. Her recent research focuses on homeownership rates among African American Women and explores the changing demographics, denial rates, and the potential impact of federal policies on homeownership advancement. She is a regular speaker at the National Association of Real Estate Brokers' regional conferences and provides training to planning commissioners on land use and public participation options. Dr. Smith teaches courses in real estate, infrastructure and community development, and applied methods.

Errol Williams, Ph.D. is a Valuation Analyst with the Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) in Houston, Texas. With more than 20 years of both commercial and residential appraisal experience, Dr. Williams’s primary responsibility includes calibrating and testing of valuation models, and the development of modern techniques to improve appraisal efficiency and accuracy: inclusive of annual time adjustments, depreciation analysis, ratio studies, base cost development, and various spatial analysis. His research focuses on local economic development and property valuation. Dr. Williams is a regular presenter at the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) and Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) conferences. His recent work on Effective Age has been published in the IAAO journal.