HUD PIH Notice § 2024-04

                         U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
                                       WASHINGTON, DC 20410-5000




OFFICE OF PUBLIC AND INDIAN HOUSING


Special Attention of:                                  NOTICE PIH 2024-04

Public Housing Agencies administering the              Issued: January 31, 2024
Housing Choice Voucher and/or Public Housing
Programs, PIH grantees                                 Expires: Effective until amended,
                                                       superseded, or rescinded

                                                       Cross References: N/A


SUBJECT: GUIDANCE ON ELIGIBLE USES FOR PIH PROGRAM FUNDS RELATED
TO PERSONS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

1. Applicability:

This Notice provides guidance for public housing agencies (PHAs) administering the Public
Housing (PH) and/or Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) programs, along with other PIH grantees
(for example, recipients of federal funding through PIH’s NOFO process), on compliance with
federal requirements for providing meaningful access to persons with limited English proficiency
(LEP).

2. Purpose:

The Fiscal Year 2022 Joint Explanatory Statement (JES) for Division L - Transportation,
Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2022 directed the
Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) and Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
(FHEO) to develop guidance for utilizing PIH program funds for LEP related activities. The JES
also directed HUD to identify best practices for language access plans and cost-effective
strategies for accessing robust language assistance.

The guidance consolidates and clarifies information on the existing eligible use of funds within
PIH program funds for LEP-related activities.

3. Background:

Individuals who do not speak English as their primary language and have limited ability to read,
write, speak, or understand English may be a person with LEP. These individuals may be entitled
to language assistance for a particular service, benefit, or encounter. Federal laws applicable to
language access include Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Title VI regulations, and
Executive Order 13166. Many federal programs, states, and localities also have provisions
requiring language services for LEP individuals.
Title VI requires that all recipients of federal financial assistance, including subrecipients, take
reasonable steps to ensure that persons with LEP have meaningful access to the recipient’s
programs or activities including by ensuring meaning access to benefits, services, information,
and other vital aspects of the recipient’s programs or activities,.1 Failure to ensure that persons
with LEP have the opportunity to effectively participate in programs or receive their benefits
may violate Title VI's prohibition against national origin discrimination.

In addition, Executive Order 13166, "Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited
English Proficiency," 2 requires Federal agencies and recipients of federal financial assistance to
provide meaningful access to all programs and services. Language for persons with LEP can be a
barrier to accessing important benefits or services; understanding; and exercising necessary
rights; complying with applicable responsibilities; or understanding other information provided
by recipients who administer federally funded programs and activities.

The Department released guidance for HUD-funded recipients on LEP compliance requirements,
titled “Final Guidance to Federal Financial Assistance Recipients Regarding Title VI Prohibition
Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient Persons.” 3 This
LEP guidance describes compliance standards that recipients of HUD funding should follow to
ensure that their programs and activities are accessible to persons with LEP and do not
discriminate based on national origin…”

4. LEP Compliance Requirements:

Language access policies, plans, and procedures will differ depending on a variety of factors,
including the recipient’s nature or method of operation and its points of contact with the public.
To meet their obligation to provide meaningful access to their programs, HUD recommends that
federally assisted recipients, including PHAs and PIH grantees:

        (1) conduct a four-factor analysis;
        (2) develop a Language Access Plan; and
        (3) provide appropriate language assistance.

    a. Four-factor Analysis

Grantees should apply a ‘four-factor analysis’, which provides a framework for reviewing the
totality of the circumstances and balances the need to ensure meaningful access without
imposing undue burdens on recipients. The analysis involves:

        (1) Reviewing the number or proportion of persons with LEP served or in the eligible
            service population;
        (2) The frequency in which persons with LEP interact with the program;
        (3) The nature and importance of the program, activity, or service; and

1
  More information on Title VI can be found at 42 U.S.C. § 2000d; HUD’s implementing regulations are at 24
C.F.R. Part 1
2
  65 FR 50121
3
  FR-4878-N-02


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       (4) The resource and costs to the recipient Demonstration by a recipient that a certain
           service option would present a material burden can then be considered during the
           four-factor analysis.

   b. Language Access Plan

After conducting the four-factor analysis, the recipient should develop a Language Access Plan
for how to meet the needs of the LEP populations the recipient serves.

Some helpful elements in designing this plan include:
       identifying persons with LEP who need language assistance;
       identifying the staff who may have contact with persons with LEP;
       the language assistance provided;
       conducting effective outreach to the LEP community;
       training staff;
       determining which documents are vital;
       translating information materials;
       providing interpreters for meetings;
       connecting with and developing community resources to help with language services;
          and
       a timeframe for updating the Language Access Plan (LAP), including seeking input
          from the community.

Additionally, PHAs and PIH grantees should ensure that the Language Access Plan:
        Identifies informational materials that must be translated (e.g., leases, marketing
           materials, tenants' rights, and responsibilities brochures);
        Contains procedures for providing appropriately translated notices to persons with
           LEP (e.g., eviction notices, security information, emergency plans) and providing
           interpreters for large, medium, small, and one-on-one meetings;
        Contains procedures for frontline staff to identify when a person has language access
           needs and how to assist them;
        Develops community resources, partnerships, and other relationships to help with the
           provision of language services; and
        Makes provisions for monitoring and updating the LAP, including seeking input from
           beneficiaries and the community on how it works and what other actions should be
           taken.

HUD has a Language Access Plan that can be used by PHAs and PIH grantees in analyzing their
needs.

   c. Language Assistance Services

After developing the Language Access Plan, recipients should implement the plan by providing
appropriate language assistance services to the LEP population the recipient serves. Some
language assistance services recipients can provide include oral interpretation, bilingual staff,
telephone service line interpretation, written translation services, notices of availability of LEP

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services, or referrals to community liaisons proficient in the language. The recipient may have
another organization supply interpretation services as needed, use a telephone service line
interpreter, or contract another agency in the same community with bilingual staff to provide
interpretation services. 4

5. PIH Program Funds Use:

HUD's LEP guidance explains the obligation of federal financial assistance recipients to take
reasonable steps to meet their regulatory and statutory obligations in ensuring that persons with
LEP have meaningful access within HUD’s programs and activities, including for PH and HCV
programs. While this guidance does not cover line-item expenses that can be covered by program
funds, PHAs and PIH grantees must take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to
programs and activities for persons with LEP.

    a. Operating Fund

Pursuant to Section 9(g) of the Housing Act of 19375, PHAs may use their Operating Fund
program subsidy (Op Funds) to ensure meaningful access for persons with LEP related to the
PHA’s operations. Op Fund can be used to ensure access for persons with LEP only within the
Public Housing program.

Example: During public housing eviction proceedings, a standard PHA action, Op Funds can be
used to ensure the public housing resident with LEP has meaningful access to all relevant
information related to the proceeding in their native language.

In this situation, activities related to services may include providing appropriately translated
notices, including notices of eviction and notices advising persons with LEP of free language
assistance. In-person interpretation assistance is necessary for termination and eviction hearings
due to the significance of these interactions, and the PHA should provide qualified and trained
interpretation services. Similarly, a PIH grantee could use Op Funds to create a greeting message
for telephone numbers with options in multiple languages.

    b.   Capital Fund

PHAs can use their Capital Fund program grant (Cap Fund) to address LEP
requirements. Pursuant to Section 9(g) of the Housing Act of 1937 and the regulations found at
24 CFR Part 905.314(l), PHAs can use a portion (up to 100% for small, non-troubled PHAs, and
20% for all other PHAs) of a Cap Fund Grant for any eligible cost under the Operating Fund
Program, including the Op Fund Activities listed in the Op Fund section within this notice.

PHAs can also use up to 10% of a Cap Fund grant for Management Improvement activities as
indicated in 24 CFR Part 905.314(i). Management Improvements are noncapital activities that
are project-specific or PHA-wide improvements needed to upgrade or improve the operation or

4
  HUD’s website provides additional frequently asked questions related to LEP compliance. Frequently asked
questions related to LEP compliance may be found
5
  42 U.S.C. § 1437g


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maintenance of the PHA's projects, to promote energy conservation, to sustain physical
improvements at those projects, or correct management deficiencies. PHAs must be able to
demonstrate the linkage between the management improvement and the correction of an
identified management deficiency. The PHA must identify LEP requirements as a management
deficiency and include the LEP work items in the Capital Fund 5-Year Action Plan in order to
use Capital Funds for management improvement activities that facilitate access for persons with
LEP in Public Housing.

Example: Eligible activities under Management Improvements BLI 1408 include, but are not
limited to, the following:
      PHAs can use up to 10% of an annual Cap Fund grant for Management Improvements
         (BLI 1408) to upgrade their online systems for program participant applications to
         allow future residents to apply in languages other than English.
      PHAs can use BLI 1408 to train PHA staff to better serve with LEP.
      Capital Funds can be used for facilitating communication during resident consultation
         for the development, financing, and/or modernization of public housing developments,
         such as hiring or contracting a qualified interpreter or translator equipped to
         communicate in different languages so that persons with LEP who are in Public
         Housing are properly informed during relocation counseling.

   c. HCV Administrative Fees

PHAs and PIH grantees may use HCV Administrative Fees or unrestricted net position (UNP) to
address LEP requirements for HCV and project-based voucher (PBV) program activities and
materials.

Example: Eligible activities include, but are not limited to, the following:
    Facilitating communication, through on-site or remote translation during the oral
       briefing required at 24 CFR 982.301 and the informal review and informal hearing at 24
       CFR 982.554 and 982.555.
    Software upgrades to allow families to use on-line application or recertification systems
       in languages other than English.
    Translating program resources such as the written materials in the family information
       packet and other key program forms, notices, and policies in accordance with the
       Language Access Plan.

   d. Mainstream Voucher and Emergency Housing Voucher Administrative and Service
      Fees

Mainstream (MS) Voucher's administrative fees (and UNP) and Emergency Housing Voucher's
(EHV) administrative fees and service fees can also be used for eligible activities for addressing
LEP requirements for those respective programs.

PIH grantees should consult the competitive grant Notice of Funding Opportunity and/or Grant
Agreement to determine the eligible use of funds for meeting LEP requirements.



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6. LEP Compliance Monitoring Reviews:

FHEO monitors for program compliance and can issue findings related to programmatic
violations to PHAs and PIH grantees that are not in compliance with programmatic requirements.
PHAs and PIH grantees should include their LEP policies and procedures in their materials that
are readily available for public review, such as on their website and primary office. This
information must also be provided to all contracts and subcontracts for compliance, including
those contracts and subcontracts under Section 3.

7. Additional LEP Information: For additional LEP information, please consult HUD’s
   webpage on FHEO Limited English Proficiency.




                                           Richard J. Monocchio
                                           Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
                                           Public and Indian Housing




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