George Galster, professor of urban studies at Wayne State , co-authored a study examining "racial steering," the practice of persuading potential home buyers to purchase in specific neighborhoods and regions based on their ethnicity. The results, published in the Journal of the American Planning Association, revealed that racial steering had increased for black-white pairs - with blacks steered away from non-minority neighborhoods and whites steered toward them - since 1989, the last time a study was conducted. The authors also reported that at least 12 to 15 percent of the time, real estate agents provided more information to white homebuyers and encouraged them to choose homes in areas with more white and fewer poor households.