National Housing Services

What is NSPIRE?  

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NSPIRE is a new inspection platform conducted in a Salesforce app.  All the required inspection information is in the app on your inspection date and therefore, there is no lengthy pre-inspection process, sample generation or  property verification.

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Inspectable areas: 

 

• UNIT: A “Unit” of HUD housing refers to the interior components of an individual dwelling, where the resident lives.

• INSIDE: “Inside” refers to the common areas and building systems within the building interior and are not inside a unit. This could include interior laundry facilities, workout rooms, and so on.

• OUTSIDE: “Outside” refers to the building site, building exterior components, and any building systems located outside of the building or unit. This includes things like playgrounds, sidewalks, and air-conditioning units.

 

Deficiency severity levels:

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• Low - 60 day repair

• Moderate - 30 day repair

• Severe - 24 hour repair

• Life Threating - 24 hour repair

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Scoring:

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• Units are weighted higher than the inside and outside areas and account for 60% of the inspection. 

• There are no scoring caps which means that a few 'bad' units can have a big impact on your overall score.   

• Point deductions for deficiencies vary by each property and the unit sample size.  A rough estimate of each level's point loss is as follows:  Health and Safety 2 points; Severe .5 points, Moderate .2 points and Low .1 points.  

• Property Scores greater or equal to 60 is passing, however if the overall unit score is 50% of the weight or 30, the property will fail.

• Smoke and carbon monoxide detector deficiencies are not scored

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NSPIRE VS UPCS

Many NSPIRE deficiencies are similar to the UPCS deficiencies. 

Here are some notable changes but there are many more:

• All outlets within 6’ of a water source must be GFI protected

• Smoke detectors are required within each bedroom, outside the bedrooms and on each level.  They cannot be installed within 4” of the wall or ceiling and if they are installed on the wall, they cannot be installed further than 12” from the ceiling

• All outlets must be grounded or GFI protected

• Water heater PRV pipes must be within 6” of the floor

• Paint or debris on sprinkler heads must cover 75% of it to be a deficiency

• Resident furniture or window AC unit blocking an egress window is not a deficiency

• Door surface damage is not a deficiency unless the hole/damage penetrates through the door.  Entry or fire rated door have different standards.

• Not to industry standard repairs are not evaluated

• Damaged window seals causing condensation between the panes is not a deficiency.

Note that properties with call for aid cords have to be on alert that they are not blocked or coiled up as this has become a Health and Safety Deficiency worth an average of 2 points.

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Overall Opinion:

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NSPIRE is an easier inspection than UPCS.  The inspector is evaluating less and the thresholds are greater before a deficiency is cited.  Many of the former L3's are now considered low or moderate only marginally impacting the score.

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The primary concern is in the units as one bad unit could cost the property 10+ points.  Let's say a unit has a missing outlet cover, blocked call for aid cord, double keyed lock on the entry door and a larger area of mold/mildew on the bathroom ceiling, you are loosing close to 10 points.  If your property has three bad sample units and every other unit, the inside and outside are perfect, you will fail the inspection.  The key is to pre-inspect all the units prior to the inspection.

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The other concern is that at some point there will be changes to NSPIRE perhaps with another lenghty compilation bulletin.  That would make NSPIRE just another name for UPCS...

 

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