Housing Choice & Project-Based Vouchers: each assisted unit inspected on its own by the PHA. Any LT, Severe or Moderate item fails it. What's the difference?

90 days until NSPIRE is required for vouchers

NSPIRE inspections, done on your phone.

Walk HUD's full HCV/PBV checklist unit by unit. Tap a deficiency, snap a photo, and NSPIREhub works out the severity, the correction deadline and the pass/fail result, then hands you a finished report.

Start an inspection Try a demo on your phone

Sign in with your dWell-KC account. Works in your phone's browser — nothing to install.

HUD's paper NSPIRE HCV/PBV checklist becomes a phone walk-through — tap a deficiency, add a photo — and then a finished pass/fail PDF report
63
HUD inspectable items, in HUD's order
206
Deficiencies with severity built in
24h · 30d
Correction deadlines set automatically
1 tap
From finished inspection to PDF report
How it works

Start, walk, finish.

The same flow as HUD's form, built for one hand and a flashlight.

1

Start

Enter the address and HUD's form details: inspection type, PHA, family identifier, owner, bedrooms, year built.

2

Walk the unit

Go item by item. Tap Unit, Inside or Outside on any deficiency you find, add comments and photos. The page never reloads.

3

Finish

Record the weather, and your phone's location is saved as proof you were on site. Get pass/fail, deadlines and a PDF instantly.

Features

Everything the inspection needs, nothing it doesn't.

HUD's full checklist

Every HCV/PBV standard and deficiency, with Affirmative Habitability Requirements flagged and plain-language help on each item.

Automatic scoring

Severity comes from where you mark it. Any Life-Threatening, Severe or Moderate finding fails the unit; Low items are noted.

Correction tracking

Each finding gets its due date. Mark items corrected with evidence photos and see what's open or overdue at a glance.

Photos on every finding

Photos, video, audio or PDFs per deficiency or for the whole inspection. iPhone HEIC photos are converted automatically.

On-site proof

Your device's location and the weather are recorded at completion, with a flag if you were far from the address.

Proxy inspections

Send a secure link to someone without an account (a contractor or the owner) to walk the checklist for you.

Reinspections

Start a reinspection from a failed one. The details carry over and you check the prior findings first.

PDF report

A clean report with the result, deadlines, every finding and its photos, ready to print, send or file.

Scoring

Four severities. One clear result.

NSPIRE for vouchers is pass/fail per unit, with no points or property score. NSPIREhub applies the rules as you go. What's the difference between them?

LT

Life-Threatening

24 hours

Fails the unit. Must be corrected within 24 hours.

S

Severe

30 days

Fails the unit. 30 days to correct, or a PHA-approved extension.

M

Moderate

30 days

Fails the unit. 30 days to correct, or a PHA-approved extension.

L

Low

Noted

The unit still passes. Recorded so the owner knows.

Beyond HUD bare minimums

NSPIRE+
A crystal-clear record of the unit before move-in.

HUD's checklist only records what's wrong. NSPIRE+ lets the agency placing a tenant request photos of the whole unit on top of the inspection, so everyone has a clear picture of its condition on the day it passed, before the tenant moves in.

  • Requested by the placing agency Pick the photos you need once, for every client you place, or per program. Or describe what you need and let the inspector photograph it as they see fit.
  • Room by room, automatically "Each bedroom" and "each closet" expand to the unit's bedroom count, so nothing is skipped.
  • Required when the unit passes A passing inspection can't be completed until every requested photo is in, or marked N/A where it doesn't apply. A failing unit isn't held up.
  • In the report The photos are filed with the inspection and its PDF: a dated baseline for move-out, damage claims and disputes.
Who it's for

For everyone who has to get a unit to pass.

PHAs & inspectors

Run initial, annual, special and quality-control inspections in the field, with consistent results and records you can file.

Landlords & owners

Inspect your own units before the PHA does. Find and fix the failing items first, and track repairs after a failed inspection.

Housing navigators

Check a unit before a client signs a lease, so families don't lose weeks to a failed inspection.

HQS is ending. NSPIRE takes over on February 1, 2027.

HUD's compliance date for Housing Choice Voucher, Project-Based Voucher and Mod Rehab units. Many PHAs are switching sooner.

Start an inspection
90
days to go
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

They use the same HUD standards. NSPIRE for public housing and HUD multifamily is run by HUD's REAC, inspects a sample of units, and produces a 0–100 property score. NSPIRE for vouchers (often called NSPIRE-V) is run by the PHA, inspects each assisted unit, and is simply pass or fail. NSPIREhub does both: switch between them at the top of this page.
See NSPIRE (PH/MF) →

HUD's compliance date for HCV, PBV and Mod Rehab is February 1, 2027 (Notice PIH 2026-18). Until then a PHA may keep using HQS or switch to NSPIRE early.

Yes. Under NSPIRE for vouchers, a single Life-Threatening, Severe or Moderate deficiency anywhere the unit is inspected fails it. Low deficiencies are recorded but the unit still passes.

How dangerous the problem is. A Severe deficiency, left unfixed, would likely cause permanent disability or serious injury or illness, or seriously compromise the resident's safety or security. A Moderate one poses a moderate risk of harm that could need a doctor's visit, could get worse over time, or makes everyday tasks like cooking or bathing significantly harder.

Voucher rules have only two repair deadlines: Life-Threatening items within 24 hours, and every other failing item within 30 days (or a PHA-approved extension). The label still matters: it tells the owner what to fix first and is how the finding is recorded. In HUD's own public housing and multifamily inspections the two are treated differently — Severe items are due in 24 hours there.

Problems likely to cause death or severe injury or illness if not fixed right away — for example a missing or non-working smoke or carbon monoxide alarm, a gas leak, exposed electrical wiring, a blocked exit, or no working heat in winter. They must be corrected within 24 hours.

Something that matters for habitability but isn't a real health or safety risk. It's noted on the report so the owner can fix it, but it doesn't fail the unit and has no correction deadline.

NSPIRE rates each deficiency by where it is: in the Unit itself, in Inside common areas of the building, or Outside on the site. A window that won't open is Moderate inside the unit but Low in a hallway, for example. NSPIREhub sets the severity from the location you tap.

Something every unit must have, like a smoke alarm or a working refrigerator (24 CFR 5.703(d)). These are flagged on the checklist so they aren't missed.

That's up to the PHA's policy. Typically the PHA can stop (abate) housing assistance payments to the owner until the repairs are made, and may eventually end the assistance contract. NSPIREhub shows what's open and what's overdue so nothing slips.

Sometimes. On an initial inspection with no Life-Threatening items, a PHA whose administrative plan has adopted the HOTMA option can approve the tenancy and start payments before Severe or Moderate repairs are finished. The repairs are still due within 30 days.

By a reinspection, or for some items an owner certification the PHA accepts. In NSPIREhub you can start a reinspection from a failed inspection: the details carry over and you check the earlier findings first.

Photo requirements beyond HUD's bare minimums. HUD's checklist records only deficiencies; with NSPIRE+, the agency placing a tenant can request photos of the whole unit — exteriors, street, each bedroom and closet, bathrooms, kitchen, mechanicals and more — or describe its own extra needs. When the inspection passes, it can't be completed until those photos are in, giving everyone a crystal-clear record of the unit before the tenant moves in.

No. Voucher inspection records are kept by the PHA, not uploaded to HUD. NSPIREhub gives you the complete record (findings, photos, deadlines, location) and a PDF report to file or send.

Sign in with your dWell-KC account, or create one in a minute. Your inspections live alongside the rest of your work in dWell-KC.

No. NSPIREhub runs in your phone's browser and is designed for one-handed use in the field. You can add it to your home screen if you like.

No. NSPIREhub is an independent tool built on HUD's published NSPIRE standards. It isn't affiliated with or endorsed by HUD.

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