The National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) has been designed to improve HUD’s oversight and risk management capabilities through a reliable, repeatable inspection process that better identifies health and safety risks to residents.

The NSPIRE Standards currently include the following health and safety risks definitions:

• Severe Health and Safety: Deficiencies where the likelihood of occurrence and the severity of the harm is such that there is a reasonable probability of occurrence and if the harm did occur, the outcome would be:
  • death or serious injury (e.g., leading to an emergency room visit or permanent disability) to a resident; or
  • the physical security or safety of a resident or their property would be seriously compromised; or
  • serious undue burden on the resident if the deficiency is present for an extended period of time.
• Standard: Deficiencies where the likelihood or occurrence is still high but the severity of harm, while potentially significant, is likely to be less than death or severe injury. As the potential outcomes associated with these deficiencies are less than severe, more time (30 days or less) can be taken to reduce or eliminate the risk.

NSPIRE has identified and published the list of health and safety items to be included in NSPIRE inspections for each inspectable area:

Unit Health and Safety

This document provides a matrix of items, deficiencies, and severity of health and safety risks in the Unit inspectable area. For reference, "Unit" refers to the interior of an individual residential unit.

Inside Health and Safety

This document provides a matrix of items, deficiencies, and severity of health and safety risks in the Inside inspectable area. For reference, "Inside" refers to all common areas and building systems (e.g., HVAC) located inside a building.

Outside Health and Safety

This document provides a matrix of items, deficiencies, and severity of health and safety risks in the Outside inspectable area. For reference, "Outside" refers to the building site, the building envelope, and any building systems located outside of the building or unit.

Related Links:

• Current NSPIRE Standards
• How to Read and Give Feedback on NSPIRE Standards
• How to Read the NSPIRE Standards
• HUD Requests Public Feedback on NSPIRE Standards
• NSPIRE Inspectable Areas
• NSPIRE Life-Threatening Deficiencies
• NSPIRE Terms and Definitions