HUD Publishes Final NSPIRE Rule

On May 11, HUD published the final rule implementing the National Standards for Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) in the Federal Register. The final rule makes sweeping changes to the inspections process for all HUD-assisted housing.

One level deeper: NSPIRE improves HUD’s oversight by aligning and consolidating inspection regulations used to evaluate HUD housing across multiple programs. NSPIRE strengthens HUD’s physical condition standards, formerly known as the Uniform Physical Condition Standard (UPCS) and the Housing Quality Standards (HQS). HUD’s Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) conducts the inspections of HUD-assisted properties in the public and Multifamily Housing programs.

A proposed rule was published on Jan. 13, 2021, and this final NSPIRE rule makes some changes to inspections for the Public Housing and Multifamily Housing programs in response to public comments to the proposed rule. Some of the changes include a new self-inspection requirement and report and a clarification of the timeline for the correction of health or safety deficiencies. For life-threatening and severe deficiencies, the PHA or owner must correct the deficiency within 24 hours after the inspection report is received, and upload evidence of that correction within 72 hours to HUD.

One takeaway: The rule has distinct effective dates for the start of physical inspections using the NSPIRE Standards:

• July 1, 2023 — Public Housing Inspections Begin
• Oct. 1, 2023 — Housing Choice Voucher, Project-based Voucher, and Multifamily Inspections Begin