A 3-year-long Newsday investigation found Long Island real estate agents' widespread unequal treatment against Hispanic, Asian, and black homebuyers

Newsday

A Newsday investigation found Long Island real estate agents treated minority groups unfairly.

• A three-year-long Newsday investigation published Sunday found Long Island real estate agents' widespread unequal treatment against Hispanic, Asian, and black homebuyers.
• In what the New York newspaper called one of its most extensive investigations ever, reporters found real estate agents treated prospective homebuyers from minority groups differently from those who are white.
• "The three-year probe strongly indicates that house hunting in one of the nation's most segregated suburbs poses substantial risks of discrimination, with black buyers chancing disadvantages almost half the time they enlist brokers," reporters Ann Choi, Keith Herbert, and Olivia Winslow wrote in the project.
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A three-year-long Newsday investigation published Sunday found Long Island real estate agents' widespread unequal treatment against Hispanic, Asian, and black homebuyers.

In what the New York newspaper called one of its most extensive investigations ever, reporters found real estate agents treated prospective homebuyers from minority groups differently from those who are white.

"The three-year probe strongly indicates that house hunting in one of the nation's most segregated suburbs poses substantial risks of discrimination, with black buyers chancing disadvantages almost half the time they enlist brokers," reporters Ann Choi, Keith Herbert, and Olivia Winslow wrote in the project, which was edited by Arthur Browne.

Newsday used a paired-testing approach, sending two undercover testers using hidden cameras to 93 Long Island agents to gauge whether their experiences differed, presenting similar financial situations and requesting similar housing.

The investigation places a spotlight on the New York suburbs' longstanding divisions across racial, political, and socioeconomic lines. Some 2.8 million people live on Long Island, according to a May report from the state comptroller. Between 2010 and 2018 population growth has slowed to 0.1% overall, with Suffolk County losing population, per the report.

The Newsday project featured 86 matching tests spanning Long Island across Nassau County, which is closer to New York City, and Suffolk County, which includes the Hamptons. Black, Hispanic, and Asian testers experienced different treatment 49% of the time, 39% of the time, and 19% of the time, respectively.

The report also found large Long Island real estate brokerages "help solidify racial separations," directing white prospective homebuyers toward largely white areas and minority clients toward more racially integrated ones.

In one instance of unequal treatment between Newsday's testers, Keller Williams Realty agent Le-Ann Vicquery told one black customer about Brentwood, a majority black and Hispanic neighborhood, saying "Every time I get a new listing in Brentwood, or a new client, I get so excited because they're the nicest people." President Donald Trump has targeted Brentwood in recent years amid gang activity there.

Vicquery told the paired white customer, "Please kindly do some kindly do some research on the gang-related events in that area for safety."

Vicquery declined to comment to the news outlet.

Read Newsday's "Long Island Divided" investigation here.