Int 1681-2017

Be it enacted by the Council as follows: Section 1. Title 26 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new chapter 14 to read as follows: CHAPTER 14 LANGUAGE ACCESS IN LARGE HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS � 26-1401 Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings: Large housing development. The term "large housing development" means a multiple dwelling as defined in article 1 of the multiple dwelling law that contains 100 or more dwelling units. � 26-1402 Language-access survey. Every large housing development shall survey its residents annually to determine what percent of residents speak a language other than English as their primary language and to identify those languages. The survey shall anonymize all personally identifiable information. � 26-1403 Language access. a. Whenever the population of residents who speak a particular language other than English exceeds 10 percent of a large housing development's total population, the large housing development shall have on staff a language-access employee who speaks that language in its property management and maintenance office, or in the equivalent office that serves the large housing development. b. Any such language-access employee shall be available to residents of the large housing development during normal business hours for translation and interpretation services regarding housing-related documents, repair requests and other issues relating to maintenance and leasing. c. Large housing developments shall report to the mayor and council for the prior calendar year the anonymized results of the language access survey, the number of language-access staff employed as a response to the survey results that year, and the number of language-access employees already employed that year. Such data shall be transmitted in a non-proprietary format that permits automated processing by March 1, 2018, and every March 1 thereafter. � 26-1404 Enforcement. Any person claiming to be aggrieved by a violation of this chapter by a non-governmental actor shall have a cause of action in a court of competent jurisdiction for any appropriate equitable relief. A violation of this chapter by a governmental actor shall be adjudicated in a proceeding pursuant to article 78 of the civil practice law and rules. � 2. This local law takes effect 60 days after it becomes law. JR/MN LS # 6204 08/02/2017 8:26 AM 2 2