HUD published a notice in the Federal Register on July 5 extending to October 1, 2025, the compliance date for implementing the National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV), Project Based Voucher (PBV), and Section Eight Moderate Rehabilitation (Mod Rehab) programs. The notice also extends the compliance date for five of the formula programs administered by HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD): HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME), national Housing Trust Fund (HTF), Continuum of Care (CoC), Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG), and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA).
A final rule implementing NSPIRE was published on May 11, 2023 (see Memo, 5/13/23; 5/22/23). HUD encourages any public housing agency (PHA), HOME participating jurisdiction (PJ), or grantee that is ready to implement NSPIRE to do so. NSPIRE replaces the Housing Quality Standards (HQS) currently used by the affected programs. (NSPIRE also replaces the Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) physical inspection standards used in the public housing program and various programs administered by HUD’s Office of Multifamily Programs, such as the Section Eight Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) program. The July 5 notice does not apply to these programs.)
The notice reminds PHAs, PJs, and grantees that the NSPIRE Standards for installing carbon monoxide devices and smoke alarms still apply because they are required by the “Consolidated Appropriations Acts” of 2021 and 2023, respectively. The NSPIRE Standard for smoke alarms will be updated before the statutory compliance date of December 29, 2024. See Memo, 6/26/23 for a summary of the NSPIRE Standards. In addition, the Visual Assessment Standard for Potential Lead-Based Hazards still applies, which is not mentioned in the notice but was highlighted in an email sent on June 14 by Richard Monocchio, principal deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH). An INSPIRE Update email sent by PIH on July 10 also reiterates the carbon monoxide and smoke detector requirements.
The Federal Register notice states that CPD intends to publish NSPIRE Standards deficiency subsets specific to HOME, HTF, CoC, ESG, and HOPWA before the October 1, 2025, compliance deadline.
This is the second extension of the compliance date, which was originally set for October 1, 2023. HUD is postponing compliance at the request of PHAs, PJs, and grantees that are also implementing changes required by the “Housing Opportunity through Modernization Act” (HOTMA, see Memo 5/13). In addition, PHAs claim that they need time to train staff on the new NSPIRE standards and communicate with and recruit landlords. Also, private vendors have not finished creating inspection products for PHAs, and HUD has not released updated inspection software for HCV inspections.
Read the July 5, Federal Register notice at: https://tinyurl.com/5cevvdm4
Read PDAS Monocchio’s email at: https://tinyurl.com/5da82urf
Read the INSPIRE Update email at: https://tinyurl.com/3yxk6eys
More information about NSPIRE is on page 4-107 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about Housing Choice Vouchers is on page 4-1 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about Project-Based Vouchers is on page 4-11 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about HTF is on page 3-1 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about HOME is on page 5-1 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about HOPWA is on page 4-121 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about CoC and ESG is on page 4-124 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.