In order to illuminate this issue, I found a few more recent articles from the NY Times that discuss how "racial steering" works and why it's not simply a realtor taking into account buyers' and renters' assumed preferences:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E2DF1131F932A35756C0A9639C8B63

This article discusses bank attempts to push minorities into subprime loans when the borrowers would have qualified for better loans:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/us/07baltimore.html?scp=55&sq="racial%20steering"&st=cse

This article addresses the way the New York City Housing Authority steered black and white tTenants into different projects:

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/05/nyregion/codes-and-quotas-were-tools-of-housing-bias.html?scp=20&sq="racial%20steering"&st=cse