Newsday Investigation Finds Widespread Housing Discrimination

A three-year-long investigation by Newsday has revealed that real estate agents across Long Island are employing a variety of strategies to keep white and minority neighborhoods segregated.

The 70-page-long project calls Long Island "the most segregated suburb in the country." The investigation was the result of undercover work by over 80 "paired testers" who posed as prospective white and minority home buyers.

The findings show agents directing white customers towards predominantly white neighborhoods, while black, Hispanic, and Asian customers were directed towards more integrated neighborhoods. Minority buyers, especially African Americans, were often treated with more hostility and greater disadvantages. The brokering firms also avoided business in more diverse neighborhoods.

Newsday editor Arthur Browne and reporter Olivia Winslow spoke with WNYC's Jami Floyd about the investigation.