The New York state Senate has released a report this week that calls for increased penalties for real estate practices that perpetuate housing discrimination.
The report follows a 2019 Newsday investigation that found several cases of Long Island real estate agents steering Black and Latinx homebuyers away from white communities and toward communities of color.
The Democratic-led Senate conducted hearings to probe real estate brokerages in the state. They found that some brokers had a fundamental misunderstanding of what housing discrimination is.
The report also lays the groundwork for legislation that would require more training of brokers and an initiative that would deploy undercover homebuyers to test real estate practices.
