State and federal agencies regularly spend limited resources on duplicative inspections of rental housing properties supported by multiple public programs. HUD REAC’s Physical Inspection Alignment Program (PIAP) creates greater efficiency by aligning property records across housing agencies and sharing REAC physical inspection reports through the online Interagency Housing Alignment Portal (IHAP).

Interagency Housing Alignment Portal

IHAP is a secure web-based interface for sharing housing data between HUD and external partners. It stores records of properties receiving support from state and federal agencies, aligns those records across agencies and programs using an internal matching algorithm, and provides users with REAC physical inspection information for aligned properties including schedules and reports. IHAP is also used by HUD Policy Development & Research (PD&R) to collect congressionally mandated annual data from state agencies for IRS Treasury’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. Additional applications for IHAP under development include financial risk assessment and peer group analysis.

Partner Agency Collaboration

Since 2012, participation in PIAP has grown to three federal agencies (HUD, IRS, USDA) and 60 state Housing Finance Agencies (HFAs). Partner agencies can use IHAP to access REAC inspections of over 8,000 HUD properties that have been aligned with their records, reducing the need for duplicative inspections. PIAP also enables future interagency collaborations by maintaining direct and ongoing relationships with partners.

Current Operations

• Interagency Housing Alignment Portal (IHAP)
  • Streamline sharing of housing data between state and federal partner agencies (HFAs, HUD, IRS, USDA).
  • Developed and maintained by REAC R&D.
• Database of Partner Agency Rental Housing
  • Establish a national repository of property records for rental housing supported by PIAP partner agencies. 
  • Align records of properties supported by multiple agencies.
• Shared Physical Inspection Reports
  • Provide access to downloadable REAC-compliant physical inspection reports for aligned partner agency properties.

Future Goals

• Common Physical Inspection Standard
  • Encourage adoption of the REAC inspection standard for all publicly supported rental housing.
• Comprehensive National Database
  • Incorporate additional housing programs into IHAP using new public and private data sources.
• Promotion of REAC Services
  • Leverage interagency relationships and IHAP to promote REAC services such as financial risk assessment.

For more information or additional resources contact the Alignment Program Team at REACAlignmentProgram@hud.gov.