An article in Friday’s New York Times describes a lawsuit against Brown Harris Stevens by a Brooklyn couple who claim the brokerage firm repeatedly steered them away from suitable apartments because they have a child. This type of steering is a clear violation of federal housing laws. I don’t want to prejudge this particular case, whose facts are in dispute, but it’s an open secret that steering is a common practice in the New York rental market. Some landlords don’t want to rent to families with children. Others don’t want to rent to people of color, or gay couples, or immigrants, or whoever else doesn’t conform to their notion of an ideal tenant. And too many real estate agents are willing to help landlords act on their prejudices.

Yes, brokers are supposed to represent their clients, but – just like attorneys – their representation is supposed to stop at the point where the client asks for help in breaking the law. Brokers also have a larger responsibility to the communities where they live and work, and steering is a betrayal of that responsibility.

Discriminating against would-be renters doesn’t just hurt the individuals who are discriminated against (which would be reason enough not to do it); it hurts us all by making New York City an even more difficult and expensive place to live. Middle-class couples have a hard enough time raising kids in the city, and brokers shouldn’t be helping to drive them out. Think about it – one of the couple in the lawsuit is an ER doctor. Do we really want to lose our ER doctors?

We also have to ask why brokers are willing to go along with this kind of behavior. Generally it’s not because they hate children (or blacks, or gays, or whoever). It’s because they only get paid when they rent an apartment. When they spend time showing apartments to tenants they think will be rejected, they lose money.

This is why alternative brokerage models are needed – an idea we’ve been promoting at MLX for many years. Successfully renting (or selling) an apartment shouldn’t be the only way for a broker to get paid. Apartment seekers should have the option of hiring brokers and paying them for services rendered, whether or not they close the deal. Under this type of arrangement, brokers know they’re only working with serious renters (or buyers) and not wasting their time with window shoppers. This allows them to price their services more reasonably, and – getting back to the original subject of this posting – it takes away their incentive to accommodate landlords’ prejudices.

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