By Andrew Coen and Mike Schnitzel
East Rockaway Mayor Joseph Carrigan found the allegation disturbing.
"I was not aware of any real estate agency in our area trying to steer people away because of their race," said Carrigan. "It is certainly not the policy in our village whatsoever, and we do not favor any form of racial discrimination. We need to abide by the laws of our country."
The agency, Julia Stevens Realty in Hewlett, is accused of discriminating against prospective buyers, alleged practices which were uncovered by the Washington D.C.- based National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and Long Island Housing Services during a recent sting operation. NFHA said it uncovered discriminatory practices by real-estate agents, including acts of racism and anti-Semitism, during their undercover investigation, and filed a complaint with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
During a June 21 press conference held at the Five Towns Community Center in North Lawrence, NFHA President Shanna Smith outlined numerous examples of intolerance shown by Julia Stevens Realty agents, including steering African-American undercover agents posing as buyers to areas with large minority populations like Valley Stream and Inwood. Smith also said that during the undercover operation, which spanned from 2004 to this past January, whites were steered to homogenous white communities such as Hewlett, Lynbrook and East Rockaway. In addition, the real estate agents made negative comments about Jews to both white and African-American undercover agents and allegedly discouraged non-Jewish whites from considering neighborhoods with a large Jewish population like Cedarhurst.
Racial-steering at the Hewlett agency was also uncovered when brokers showed rental housing, according to Michelle Santantonio, executive director of Long Island Housing Services.
Jay Goldman, owner of Julia Stevens Realty whose company name was kept from the previous owner, issued a statement regarding the allegations, saying he was unaware that any such discrimination was occurring within his company. "Our firm has been in business for many years and has an unblemished record," said Goldman. "It is our firm's policy to fulfill the housing needs and requirements of our customers regardless of race, creed and/or religion. We have no knowledge of any acts of alleged discrimination."
Smith said examples of racial-steering included real estate agents making remarks to black undercover agents about how great the Valley Stream and Malverne school districts were (both enroll a large percentage of minority students), but to white prospective home buyers an agent from the company would say the opposite.
"When this type of steering occurs, choice doesn't exist," said Smith at the press conference. "Much of the segregation [in Nassau County] is because of the racial-steering."
According to a comprehensive report by the New York State Education Department, as of the 2004-05 school year, 50.3 percent of Valley Stream Central High School District's student body was white, 18.3 percent African-American, 17.8 percent Hispanic and 13.7 percent Asian, American Indian, Alaskan or Pacific Islander. For the same school year, whites made up 86.5 percent and 89.5 percent of the Lynbrook and East Rockaway school districts' student populations, respectively, while African-Americans made up 1.2 percent and 0.6 percent of the respective districts' student populations.
NFHA officials said one example of anti-Semitism uncovered in their sting operation came when a female real estate agent drove a white undercover agent past her own home in Hewlett and pointed to a picture of Jesus Christ that a relative had placed in the window, saying it was there to "show those Jews." The same real estate agent later said it was good to have some Jews in the neighborhood, adding that "they have a lot of money and they would never sell their homes to blacks, thereby keeping the property values up," Smith recounted in the press conference. NFHA officials said they were unsure whether the anti-Semitic remarks were targeting the large Orthodox community in the Five Towns or the Jewish population as a whole.
"Fair Housing doesn't discriminate between Orthodox, Conservative or Reform Jews," said Smith.
Greg Nunn, Inwood Community Group president and an active member of the Five Towns African-American community, said he felt the acts of housing discrimination locally outlined by the NFHA were overblown. He said he had no problem purchasing a house on Rugby Road in Cedarhurst in 1974 and that during the eight years that he lived there before moving to Inwood, he was treated with great respect in the predominately white neighborhood. "I don't think it's a fair portrayal of our community," said Nunn.
Eon Bailey, president of Jamaicans and Caribbeans for Action, based in the Five Towns Community Center, said during the press conference that through his involvement with the housing activist group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), he feels racism is a major problem in Nassau County when it comes to minorities trying to purchase homes in certain neighborhoods. "The racism is thick and [minorities] are not getting a [adequate] response," said Bailey.
Smith would not confirm if other real estate agencies on Long Island were under investigation but hinted that violations of discrimination may be brought in the near future. "Testing for us is always ongoing," Smith said. "You'll probably be seeing us soon."
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