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Washington State FAIR HOUSING UPDATE |
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Serving Persons with Limited English Proficiency On January 22, 2007, HUD published guidance in the Federal Register to assist housing providers in ensuring that people with limited English proficiency (LEP) have equal access to housing and related services (available online at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/07-217.pdf) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in federally-assisted programs, and its implementing regulations require that HUD recipients take reasonable steps to ensure that persons with LEP have meaningful access to programs and activities. The guidance helps recipients comply with their statutory and regulatory obligations. "The goal of the LEP guidance is to eliminate the disparities in access to housing between those with a limited comprehension of English and fluent English-speakers," explained Kim Kendrick, HUD's Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. To assist persons with LEP, HUD has translated its model lease into Spanish and its housing discrimination complaint form into Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese (available at www.hud.gov), Arabic, Russian, and Korean (available at www.hudclips.org). Reprinted with permission from HUD Fair Housing News, Winter 2007 OCR Fair Housing Home Page | Your comments about this Web page Updated: Mar. 16. 2007 King County | DES | OCR | News | Services | Search Links to external sites do not constitute
endorsements by King County. |