The St. Louis region’s largest real estate trade group on Monday unveiled a plan to boost African American homeownership as part of an effort to redress its decades-long role in perpetuating housing discrimination.
The St. Louis Realtors say the new initiative is an atonement for how it helped to keep the region segregated; many African Americans wanting to buy homes were denied mortgages, and real estate agents encouraged white homeowners to sell in fear that African Americans would move into their neighborhoods and lower property values — efforts known today as redlining and blockbusting.
“St. Louis Realtors is painfully aware of the historical discriminatory laws, as well as the documented policies and practices of our national, state and local Realtor organizations that perpetuated discrimination against the Black community,” said Katie Berry, president of the St. Louis Realtors. “We apologize for all of these actions.”
