US GOVERNMENT LOOKS INTO HOUSING BIAS

The government said Tuesday it has begun sending investigators posing as black and Hispanic home buyers to realty offices nationwide to test for illegal racial bias in sales and rentals.

As part of a stepped-up federal effort to combat housing discrimination, the government for the first time will also hire minority "testers" to visit mortgage lenders and check for racial bias.

The Federal Reserve recently found that black people are twice as likely as whites to be rejected for a home mortgage, despite nearly three decades of fair housing legislation.