HUD Rapped Over AU Bias Report

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., is taking the Department of Housing and Urban Development to task for refusing to release a report on the possible discriminatory impact of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's automated underwriting systems.The congresswoman maintains that HUD has provided Fannie and Freddie with copies of the report, which was initiated in 2000 to determine whether their AU systems discriminate against minority borrowers. "I have deep concerns about your decision to allow the companies you regulate to view the report before providing it to Congress or the public," she says in an Oct. 30 letter to HUD Secretary Mel Martinez. "This action is both surprising and questionable. Certainly, it makes no sense to deny Congress and the public access to this report now," Rep. Schakowsky says in the letter. "Releasing the report would serve to inform Congress and the public as to whether these systems work in a non-discriminatory fashion."