Final answer:
The practice of directing potential home buyers towards areas based on racial composition is known as steering, which is distinct from blockbusting and redlining, but all are discriminatory housing practices.
Step-by-step explanation:
The act of channeling prospective home buyers to a particular area to either maintain or change the racial character of a neighborhood is known as steering. Steering occurs when a realtor focuses a buyer's attention on houses in neighborhoods predominated by persons of the buyer's ethnicity, influencing the racial makeup of neighborhoods.
Other discriminatory practices related to housing include blockbusting, which involved playing on racial fears to manipulate property prices, and redlining, the refusal of services based on racial demographics.