Barred in Boston: Racial Discrimination in Housing

Abstract

This study demonstrates the persistence of housing discrimination in Boston and shows how discrimination is practiced by real estate and rental agents. Black and white individuals, carefully matched according to employment, income, sex, and family size, successively visited rental and real estate offices requesting identical housing. The research, which extended the existing methodology, disclosed significant differences in the rental and sales housing offered to blacks and whites, with substantially more housing being made available to whites. These findings have strong and negative implications for blacks' housing search efforts; they also make clear the need for testing as the primary fair housing enforcement tool.