The almost overnight transformation of the unincorporated Roosevelt community in the Town of Hempstead from a racially integrated area into a segregated, predominantly Black area offers a recent example of what organized blockbusting and racial steering has done on Long Island. Middle class Blacks who moved to Roosevelt in the 1960s in order to live in an integrated community with suburban advantages, found themselves only a few years later isolated in a nearly all-Black community with declining resources. Roosevelt, with a Black population of less than 20% in 1960, was nearly 90% Black by 1980.

Long Island's economic segregation further exacerbates housing segregation. Exclusive zoning regulations that limit affordable housing have detrimental effects on all Long Islanders and the economic health of the region. Lack of affordable housing, however, has a disproportionately negative impact on Blacks and many other people of color because pervasive housing segregation already limits their housing choices.