Falling Flat: The Chicago Housing Authority’s Inadequate Implementation of Their Language Access Plan
This report represents the findings of the research conducted by Jane Addams Senior Caucus (JASC) in collaboration with Shriver Center on Poverty Law and Loyola University Chicago Center for Urban Research in Learning (CURL). It examines the failure of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) to successfully provide language access services to its senior residents who have Limited English Proficiency (LEP). While CHA has a Language Access Plan (LAP) as required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), our research found that it has not adequately implemented its plan to meet the needs of the community it serves.
In Chicago, there are 70,004 LEP seniors. Seniors make up 35% of the LEP population but only 12.5% of the general population. It is likely that a fairly substantial plurality of the seniors housed in CHA has Limited English Proficiency.
Without access to information in their native language, individuals who lack English fluency not only face isolation, barriers to safe housing, limited access to social services, and limited participation in their community, they are also at risk of eviction and homelessness. In order to obtain and maintain safe and stable housing, seniors need access to consistent language access services.
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For media inquiries contact Kelly Viselman Kelly@seniorcaucus.org