Chair Hudson asks about language access for landlords
Hudson asks what support is available to landlords who speak languages other than English. Reed says providers have bilingual staff and interpretation contracts, but Dalton confirms landlord forms are only in English while client-facing forms are available in many languages.
What support is available to landlords who speak a primary language other than English?
Thank you for that question, Council Member.
So at the point in time where the landlord is working with the provider, many providers have bilingual staff.
In addition to that, they have language services contracts and interpretation services.
That's available across the agency also.
Okay, so do you know which languages the forms are available in?
Yes, I do.
I've got that here.
So landlord forms are available.
Landlord forms are only available in English, but client-facing forms are available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Urdu, Bengali, French, Haitian, Creole, Korean, Polish, Albanian, Yiddish, traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Italian, and Russian.
Is there a reason you believe that materials are not available to landlords in all of the same languages?
I think it's a good point and something we can look at.
Okay, great.