Broker allegedly engaged in racial steering at two Bronx co-ops

A real estate broker allegedly perpetuated a racially segregated environment at two Bronx co-ops for nearly 50 years by barring prospective African-American tenants, according to a complaint made by the Fair Housing Justice Center in federal court. The two co-op communities, Silver Beach Gardens and Edgewater Park, which contain more than 1,100 single-family homes, allegedly offered a more lenient application policy for white buyers than it did for black homebuyers, thereby “ensur[ing] that their communities stay white by effectively barring people of color through a policy that is ‘strictly enforced’ only for minorities,” the complaint reads. According to plaintiffs Justin Carter and Lisa Darden, two African-American co-op applicants, they were never shown any properties in the co-ops during their application process, while the defendant, Amelia Lewis, a private broker, reportedly engaged in racial steering. Lewis was not immediately available for comment to The Real Deal.