The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will solely use the English language for all departmental business and services, ceasing non-English translation services, according to a memo issued to its staff Monday by Deputy Secretary Andrew Hughes.
The HUD memo obtained by Scotsman Guide cites an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in March designating English as the official language of the United States. It also contains a link to a memo sent by Attorney General Pam Bondi to all federal agencies in July that provides guidance on how to implement that order.
“We are one people, united, and we will speak with one voice and one language to deliver on our mission of expanding housing that is affordable, helping those in need, caring for our most vulnerable Americans and revitalizing rural, tribal and urban communities,” Hughes wrote in the memo.
According to U.S. Census survey data covering 2018 to 2022, 78.3% of U.S. residents over age 5 spoke only English at home during that period. Among those speaking a language other than English at home, 61% of Spanish speakers, 48.2% of speakers of any Chinese dialect and 69.8% of Tagalog speakers reported speaking English “very well.”
Hughes’ memo maintains that any guidance or procedures based on a previous executive order issued in 2000 by President Bill Clinton titled “Improving Access to Services for Persons With Limited English Proficiency” is “non-enforceable and should be rescinded or amended” to comply with Trump’s order and Bondi’s guidance.
Trump’s executive order from March specifically referenced Clinton’s previous order, noting that “Executive Order 13166 of August 11, 2000 (Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency), is hereby revoked; nothing in this order, however, requires or directs any change in the services provided by any agency.”
The Trump order continued: “Agency heads should make decisions as they deem necessary to fulfill their respective agencies’ mission and efficiently provide Government services to the American people. Agency heads are not required to amend, remove, or otherwise stop production of documents, products, or other services prepared or offered in languages other than English.”
In addition to directing HUD staff to produce all future communications, correspondence and physical and digital published materials exclusively in English, the HUD memo states that the federal department should remove or replace all current materials in HUD offices and on its website that are written in another language.
Hughes’ memo states that HUD will continue to provide communication services to people with vision or hearing disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as expectations required by the Violence Against Women Act.
The memo also notes that the Department of Justice is in the process of collecting feedback from other government departments about the implementation of the executive order and will issue new guidance within the next 180 days that will be open to public comment.
AFGE Local 476, a labor union representing HUD employees, spoke out against the memo on the social media platform Bluesky, writing that it “is not just cruel — it’s illegal.” The union claims that calling the executive order from 2000 non-enforceable “is flat-out wrong.”
“Civil rights laws are still the law of the land,” the AFGE Local 476 wrote. “This will be challenged in court, and unions will fight back for both workers & communities.”
