Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Guidance Causes Much Industry Concern
This article originally appeared in The Compliance Monitor, Elizabeth Moreland Consulting, Inc.'s compliance and management newsletter in March 2007 and summarizes the LEP Guidance that is put into effect March 8, 2007. Copyright 2007 Elizabeth Moreland Consulting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy, print or distribute without the express written permission of Elizabeth Moreland Consulting, Inc.
By Elizabeth L. Moreland, NCP-E, SCS, HCCP, SHCM, FHC
On January 22, 2007, HUD published its “Notice
of Guidance to Federal Assistance Recipients Regarding Title VI Prohibition
Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient
Persons” also known as the LEP Guidance.
Understanding the LEP Guidance
This notice directs federal agencies to establish guidance for assisting individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) to access federally funded services or benefits such as housing. LEP individuals are persons who do not speak English as their primary language and who have a limited ability to read, write, speak or understand English.
The LEP Guidance sets forth a process for determining the extent a provider of such federally funded services or benefits have an obligation to provide LEP services. The provider would then select a variety of ways to ensure LEP individuals can access the services.
For housing providers, the rules require owners to translate a broad range of documents, including applications, leases, addendums, attachments, house rules, and termination/eviction notices, into multiple languages. The Guidance also requires verbal translations of these documents if the individual does not read in their native language at no cost to the individual.
The guidance states HUD will provide
assistance by translating what it defines as “vital” documents which has
been believed to include its leases and a tenant’s right document but will not
translate notices required for recertification, the 50059 or any other document.
The documents will be translated into eight different languages.
Industry Concerns
As you can imagine, industry housing groups such as the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) are very concerned about several aspects of this guidance.
 | First, the guidance is vague as to exactly what documents need to be translated. |
| Second, the guidance saddles owners with the costs to provide translation services without any federal funding relief and includes a recommendation that industry trade groups assist in providing this relief by creating a pool of funds from membership dues. |
| Third, owners and their management agents are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of translations and competency of interpreters. |
In an effort to bring relief to owners, provide a more efficient use of the limited federal dollars, and offer a higher level of service to LEP individuals, our industry is asking that corrective language be inserted into the upcoming Joint Resolution appropriation bill.
These corrections include:
- Shifting the responsibility for providing and paying for language services back to HUD;
- Specific identification of the documents that need to be translated;
- A provision that would require HUD to produce standard translated versions of those identified documents; and
- A provision that would require HUD to provide any expected oral translations through a centralized hotline service.
Latest News
At this writing, the House Committee on Financial Services has agreed to
review the final guidance which was originally scheduled to go into effect
Also, on February 28, HUD conducted a webcast on this subject clarifying many items.
From this webcast we know that HUD’s Office of Housing’s Multifamily has determined that only the Model Lease will be considered a vital HUD document. HUD has translated all four standard leases into eight languages and they should be posted on HUDclips after final edits have been incorporated and approved. The eight languages are Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Arabic, Korean, and French. As these leases are being provided for informational purposes only, a disclaimer will be added stating such and no signature lines will be included. The English lease will be the lease executed and legally binding.
Owners are responsible for translating property-specific documents and presumably HUD model leases that fall outside the 8 languages in which HUD will translate. This represents a change from their previous plans to also translate the Resident Rights and Responsibilities Brochure into the same languages.
During the webcast, it was stated that the properties that have LEP obligations include any mixed subsidy properties with HUD funding such as HOME, Project Based Section 8, and CDBG with the basic premise being that if the deal would not have occurred without HUD funding, then LEP applies. This means Housing Credit properties are NOT subject to the LEP guidance unless funded with HUD money as the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program in itself is not federal assistance. Also, the LEP guidance does NOT apply to private landlords involved with the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, but does apply to the Public Housing Authority.
The HUD webcast also revealed a number of resources, which may help. The Limited English Proficiency Training can be viewed online through the HUD archives at http://www.hud.gov/webcasts/archives/fheo.cfm and the Office of Fair Housing has LEP training materials which are available at http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/promotingfh/leptraining.cfm. You may also want to check out the LEP tools and resources available at www.lep.gov.
If you did not get to view the webcast yourself, you can view it in its entirety by going to http://www.hud.gov/webcasts/index.cfm.
Getting Started
If you are affected by the LEP Guidance, you should start working on your Language Access Plans (LAP) if you haven’t already begun. As the industry still has many questions surrounding the implementation of this guidance, HUD has provided an email resource – limitedenglishproficiency@hud.gov – to allow you to pose specific questions and receive clarification.
Some HUD documents have been translated and can be found at http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/promotingfh/leptranslated.cfm and include:
· The Fact Sheet - "How Your Rent is Determined" which has been translated into English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese;
· Model Lease which has only been translated into Spanish so far;
· Poster - "We Do Business in Accordance with the Federal Fair Housing Law" which has been translated into Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Creole, Hmong, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese;
· Poster - Fair Housing, It's Not An Option, It's the Law which has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese; and
·
The "I Speak"
Language Identification Flashcard (PDF), written in 38 languages, is available
at: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/cor/Pubs/ISpeakCards.pdf.
The LEP government website also contains links to resources including Translator and Interpreter Organizations, cultural competence guides for providing language assistance services, and guidance issued by all federal agencies for recipients under their various programs.
It is strongly recommended that you review the webcast and take advantage of
the HUD email to obtain clarification to questions. Once again the February 28
webcast can be viewed in its entirety by going to http://www.hud.gov/webcasts/index.cfm
and questions can be emailed to limitedenglishproficiency@hud.gov.
