HUD Did Not Effectively Implement the Requirements for the Timing of Inspections Under NSPIRE

Official summary from the Oversight.gov

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) developed the National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) to align and consolidate its inspection regulations to create a standardized inspection protocol to evaluate HUD housing across multiple programs. The objective of our audit was to determine whether HUD has effectively implemented the requirements for the timing of inspections under NSPIRE. Although HUD implemented NSPIRE in 2023, HUD has not yet inspected all properties under NSPIRE. For properties associated with rural and small public housing agencies (PHA) that have been inspected under NSPIRE, HUD generally could not determine the ideal future dates (IFD) for their next inspections, including properties that received failing physical inspection scores, which require a reinspection within 1 year. These conditions occurred due to (1) incompatibility between the NSPIRE software and HUD’s information system, along with technical errors with the NSPIRE software, (2) delays in obtaining background clearances for contractors to inspect properties, (3) the cancellation of an inspection contract, and (4) significant losses of management and sta