Steering in real estate is the illegal practice of discriminating against renters and buyers based on a legally protected characteristic. Steering can occur consciously or even unconsciously when real estate agents make assumptions about what a customer wants or needs based on the customer’s personal characteristics, including race, gender, and sexual orientation. An example of steering would be an agent not showing homes to Black homebuyers in a predominantly white neighborhood, while guiding white homebuyers toward that same neighborhood. This practice promotes homogeneous neighborhoods and intentionally discriminates against people of color and other underrepresented communities.
Steering is illegal under the Fair Housing Act but still occurs throughout the country, although in more subtle ways. Learn how to identify steering, understand its history, and ask the right questions to ensure that steering doesn’t happen to you.
What is steering in real estate?
Steering is the illegal practice of “steering” prospective homebuyers away or to certain areas based on their race, national origin, familial status, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics. Generally, real estate steering negatively impacts immigrants, people of color, and LGBTQ+ folks, while benefiting white, cisgendered homebuyers. Historically, guiding Black people away from white neighborhoods has been the most prevalent form of steering.
While this practice was once widespread, it has been illegal since the adoption of the Fair Housing Act in 1968 (as part of the Civil Rights Act). Since the 1970s, steering has largely receded from public view but is still practiced nonetheless.
History of steering
Before the civil rights movement in the 1950s, real estate steering was widely accepted. This, combined with rapid urban development and the systemic economic inequalities that Black people continue to face, has led to dramatic negative effects on…