SPEAKING UP : LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY AND EQUAL ACCESS April 6, 2016 Boise, ID Gary E. Hanes & Associates, LLC Intermountain Fair Housing Council

 Title VI of the Civil Rights Act  Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act NON-ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND THE LAW 2

A Spanish-speaking tenant failed to recertify HH income. All written and oral communication was in English from the housing provider. The tenant was terminated and did not know her appeal rights. The affordable housing provider did not have a LNA or LAP. There was bilingual staff, BUT no policy for its use. 3 TITLE VI -- CASE #1

The PHA:  Paid the complainant $25,000  Adopted LEP Policy and completed a LNA and LAP  Improved procedures (inc. interpretation)  Translated documents  Trained staff  Conducted outreach 4 CASE #1 -- (OUTCOME)

April 2014 – HUD announced that the State of Nebraska’s Department of Economic Development (DED) failed to sufficiently ensure that persons with limited English proficiency have meaningful access to HUD-funded programs (CDBG and HOME). TITLE VI -- CASE #2 5

Nebraska entered into a 3-year Voluntary Compliance Agreement (VCA) with HUD:  DED -- Language Assistance Program  Perform a LNA and do a LAP  Notice to subrecipients  Train subrecipients  Monitor subrecipients …on HUD’s schedule! CASE #2 – OUTCOME 6

January 2013 – A Hispanic woman was denied a rental application because she could not speak English well and was refused the language assistance of the bilingual person she brought with her. The property manager had a policy of English competency as a prerequisite for occupancy. TITLE VIII -- CASE #3 7

The property manager agreed to:  Pay complainant $7,500  Donate $25,000 each to two local groups [that’s $50,000!!]  Adopt a non-discrimination policy  Adopt a plan to serve LEP persons  Have employees trained on fair housing CASE #3 -- OUTCOME 8

9 NOT EVERYONE SPEAKS ENGLISH 25 million or about 9% LEP population in the U.S. 60,000 LEP persons in ID or about 4% of the population 380 languages in the U.S. (160 are indigenous) Language other than English spoken in 10%+ of ID homes Worldwide there are 7000 languages

IDAHO 10

Idahoans speak 95 languages Schools Boise Meridian 58 Canyon County 12 Twin Falls 21 Why is this important? 11 LANGUAGES IN OUR SCHOOL DISTRICTS

 Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance  U.S. Supreme Court—Lau v. Nichols (1974)  Executive Order (2000)  Federal Agency Guidelines HUD – LEGAL UNDERPINNINGS

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Persons who do not speak English as their primary language and who have a limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English can be limited English proficient, or ‘‘LEP.’’ 15 WHAT IS LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY?

Interpretation: listening to something in one language…and orally converting it into another.... Translation…replacement of written text from one language into an equivalent written text in another language. But, what about gesturing and pantomiming? Or, speaking louder and slower? 16 WHAT IS LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE?

17 LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

18 LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM LANGUAGE NEEDS ASSESSMENT

19 LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM LANGUAGE NEEDS ASSESSMENT LANGUAGE ACCESS PLAN

When the client is:  Assessed as being LEP;  Or, self-identifies as being LEP; and,  The communication involves the meaningful access by a person to information or services, then: The interpretation must be competent, timely and free 20 YOU MUST PROVIDE INTERPRETATION

 Using friends and family…especially children to interpret  Different dialects/cultural competency  Machine interpretation not equal to human interpretation  There is no “safe harbor” for interpretation! 21 INTERPRETING CAUTIONS

22 WHAT DOCUMENTS SHOULD BE TRANSLATED? VITAL DOCUMENTS Those documents that are critical for ensuring meaningful access by beneficiaries or potential beneficiaries generally and LEP persons specifically. Such as…

Are there other reasons to translate docs? 23 THERE IS “SAFE HARBOR” FOR TRANSLATION

 All agencies of the federal government  All programs that receive federal assistance  State and local agencies  Subrecipients  For-profit and nonprofit entities  Special districts (fire, water, sewer, etc)  Consultants? 24 WHO MUST COMPLY?

Feds MONITORING 25

Feds States & Local Gov’ts MONITORING 26

Feds States & Local Gov’ts Grantees Subrecipients MONITORING 27

Feds States & Local Gov’ts Grantees Subrecipients MONITORING 28 ABC’s : Advocates, Beneficiaries and Citizens

Coverage extends to a recipient’s entire program or activity, i.e., to all parts of a recipient’s operations. This is true even if only one part of the recipient receives the federal assistance. What are the implications of this? 29 COVERAGE

In a jurisdiction where English has been declared the official language, a HUD recipient is still subject to federal nondiscrimination requirements, including Title VI requirements as they relate to LEP persons. 30 BUT …ENGLISH IS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE!

 Public Participation Plans  ConPlans, Annual Action Plans, CAPERS  Environmental clearances – notices and public hearings  Environmental justice  Fair treatment  Meaningful involvement  Davis-Bacon wage monitoring  Section 3 SOME FOCUS AREAS FOR GOV’TS 31

To improve community outreach To provide good customer service To comply with the law Ensure meaningful access by citizens Avoid disparate treatment Satisfy grant requirements To manage risk Civil Rights complaints Avoid lawsuits Avoid aggravation 32 WHY COMPLY?

 There is no Language Assistance Program and, if there is one, it’s not being followed  The LNA is incomplete, not all four factors are fully analyzed or it lacks conclusions  The HUD LEP Guidance suggests specific information that should be in the LAP, but it is absent  The LAPs have a tendency to be strong on policy and weak on specifics  The LAPs have vague language and promises of what will be done: ex. “_____ will take reasonable measures to provide language assistance”  No notice to LEP persons of their rights  Subrecipient compliance is not addressed  A complaint procedure is not described  No documentation of compliance actions: ex. staff training COMMON WEAKNESSES IN LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS 33

Put a Language Assistance Program in place, follow it, and…  Document! 34 THE GOLDEN RULE:

BE LIKE BILL!!!! 35 This is Bill. Bill manages federally- assisted housing. Bill complies with Title VI. Bill has a Language Assistance Program. Be like Bill.

Title VI Title VIII Intermountain Fair Housing Council Idaho Human Rights Commission 36 LEP RESOURCES

GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE IS WELCOME IN ANY LANGUAGE – Erik Kingston Intermountain Fair Housing Council , x