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Steering
Steering is also outlawed by the Fair Housing Act, this time 42 U.S.C. § 3604(a), which states that steering is:
To refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona fide offer, or to refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin.
Or, as set forth more fully by a federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan:
Steering on a racial basis (‘steering’) is prohibited by that portion of Section 3604(a) of the Fair Housing Act which makes it unlawful to ‘otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any person because of race.’ This section makes it unlawful to steer or channel a prospective buyer into or away from an area because of race. Unlawful steering or channeling of a prospective buyer is the use of a word or phrase or action by a real estate broker or salesperson which is intended to influence the choice of a prospective property buyer on a racial basis. Where choice influencing factors such as race are not eliminated, freedom of choice in the purchase of real estate becomes a fantasy. It is the freedom of choice for the purchaser which the Fair Housing Act protects. Hence, race need not be the sole reason for the defendant's conduct if it is an element of that conduct.[1]
[1] Zuch v. Hussey, 394 F. Supp. 1028, 1047 (E.D. Mich. 1975).
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