Institutional Racism

housing in the suburbs tend to live in lower-income, less desirable areas just outside the
city limits.
Steering
"The United States Supreme Court defines steering as a 'practice by which real estate
brokers and agents preserve and encourage patterns of racial segregation in available
housing by steering members of racial and ethnic groups to buildings occupied primarily
by members of such racial and ethnic groups and away from buildings and
neighborhoods inhabited primarily by members of other races or groups.'" The theory
supporting steering asserts that real estate agents steer people of color toward
neighborhoods that are disproportionately black and/or Hispanic, while white homebuyers
are directed to primarily white neighborhoods, continually reinforcing
segregation. In some studies, real estate agents present fewer and more inferior options
to black home-seekers than they do to whites with the same socioeconomic
characteristics.
Even though the Fair Housing Act made discrimination in housing illegal, there is a
belief that steering is still common. For example, real estate agents will assume white
home-buyer's initial requests are an accurate reflection of their preferences, while they
second guess a minority home-buyer's request, and adjust it to their personal
perceptions. Moreover, some real estate agents will acknowledge that their actions are
prohibited by saying such things as:
"'This area has a questionable ethnic mix, I could lose my license for saying
this!'" "'[The area] is different from here; its multicultural. ... I'm not allowed to
steer you, but there are areas you wouldn't want to live in.'"
A recent study of housing discrimination using matched pairs of home seekers who
differed only in race to inquire about housing show that for those seeking rental units,
blacks received unfavorable treatment 21.6 percent of the time, Hispanics 25.7 percent
of the time, and Asians 21.5 percent of the time. Moreover, blacks interested in
purchasing a home experienced discrimination 17 percent of the time, Hispanics 19.7
percent of the time and Asians 20.4 percent of the time.
These conclusions are challenged because it is not clear what level of discrimination is
necessary to make an impact of the housing market. There is also criticism of the
methods used to determine discrimination and it is not clear if paired testing accurately
reflects the conditions in which people are actually searching for housing.
Attitudes and Preferences
Theorists suggest that people make choices about the location of their residence based
on the racial make-up of a specific neighborhood and that racial segregation occurs as
a result of these preferences.
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