The NYCHA Journal

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NSPIRE smoke detector install
Health & Safety NYCHA Developments Top Story 

HUD’s NSPIRE Inspections: NYCHA Sites Scheduled This Month 

Vincent Echavaria

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is conducting random inspections of NYCHA apartments and buildings under a recently improved model that aims to reduce health and safety hazards.  

The National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) replaces the former Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) inspections – the first significant overhaul of inspection standards by HUD in over 20 years.  

“NSPIRE prioritizes the condition of residents’ homes and areas that most impact their quality of life,” noted Ester Tomicic-Hines, NYCHA’s Vice President of Property Management Operations – HUD Inspections. “The NSPIRE standards emphasize health and safety issues inside apartments and buildings.” 

NSPIRE focuses on eight critical health and safety areas, including carbon monoxide, fire safety, habitability, infestation, lead-based paint, mold, structural integrity, and water safety. HUD inspectors, who will be accompanied by NYCHA staff, will examine apartments and buildings (the outside and inside of buildings, including common areas).  

NSPIRE will increase the objectivity, accuracy, and consistency of inspections across the Authority. The goal of NSPIRE inspections is to help NYCHA better assess the true physical condition of apartments, while promoting better living conditions for residents.  

After launching at NYCHA in mid January, NSPIRE inspections will be taking place at developments across the city on weekdays each month. As required by HUD, residents are asked to be prepared to provide apartment access for a random NSPIRE inspection.  

NYCHA developments scheduled for NSPIRE inspections in May include: 

(all inspections will take place between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.) 

  • Vladeck Houses: Thursday, May 2 
  • Smith Houses: Monday, May 6
  • Whitman Houses: Monday, May 6
  • Saint Nicholas Houses: Tuesday, May 7
  • Lincoln Houses: Wednesday, May 8
  • Surfside Gardens: Wednesday, May 8
  • Pomonok Houses: Thursday, May 9
  • Astoria Houses: Monday, May 13
  • South Beach Houses: Wednesday, May 15
  • 1010 East 178th Street Houses: Thursday, May 16
  • West Brighton Houses: Thursday, May 16
  • Mariner’s Harbor Houses: Friday, May 17
  • PSS Grandparent Family Apartments: Friday, May 17
  • Lower East Side III Houses: Monday, May 20
  • Richmond Terrace: Monday, May 20
  • Berry Houses: Tuesday, May 21
  • Sedgwick Houses: Tuesday, May 21

April inspections

  • Manhattanville Houses 
  • Red Hook East Houses
  • Baruch Houses
  • Clinton Houses
  • Douglass Houses
  • Marcy Houses
  • Redfern Houses
  • Gravesend Houses and O’Dwyer Gardens
  • Hammel Houses and Carleton Manor
  • East River Houses
  • Latimer Gardens
  • Kingsborough Houses
  • Stanley Isaacs Houses
  • Bay View Houses
  • Washington Houses and Lexington Houses
  • FHA Repossessed Houses (Group V)
  • Monroe Houses
  • Brownsville Houses
  • Fulton Houses
  • South Jamaica I and II Houses
  • Breukelen Houses
  • Woodside Houses
  • Queensbridge South Houses
  • Pink Houses
  • Queensbridge North Houses
  • Johnson Houses
  • Stapleton Houses
  • Ingersoll Houses: Monday, April 29
  • Jefferson Houses: Tuesday, April 30

March inspections

  • Sumner Houses  
  • Wyckoff Gardens  
  • Marlboro Houses
  • Taylor Street-Wythe Avenue
  • Carver Houses
  • Melrose Houses
  • Roosevelt I and II Houses
  • Jackson Houses and Morrisania Air Rights
  • Marble Hill Houses
  • LaGuardia Houses and LaGuardia Addition
  • Highbridge Gardens
  • Butler Houses
  • Amsterdam Houses
  • King Towers
  • Howard Houses and Tilden Houses
  • Manhattanville Houses
  • West Farms Road Rehab
  • Carver Houses
  • Farragut Houses

February inspections

  • Parkside Houses and Gun Hill Houses 
  • Van Dyke Houses 
  • Mill Brook Houses 
  • Cooper Park Houses  
  • Moore Houses 
  • Patterson Houses  
  • Boston Secor Houses  
  • Forest Houses
  • Webster Houses  
  • Carey Gardens 
  • Soundview Houses  
  • Fort Independence Street – Heath Avenue  
  • Langston Hughes Apartments and Woodson Houses 
  • Ravenswood Houses
  • Borinquen Plaza I and II  
  • Wald Houses  
  • Marcus Garvey Houses (Group A)  
  • Drew Hamilton Houses  
  • Tompkins Houses  
  • Randolph South Houses  
  • Unity Plaza Sites 4-27
  • Adams Houses
  • Low Houses and Glenmore Plaza
  • Albany I and II Houses

January inspections 

  • Prospect Plaza Phase I 
  • Bushwick Houses 
  • Ocean Hill Apartments 
  • 1010 East 178th Street  
  • Lower East Side Houses 
  • Straus Houses 
  • Gowanus Houses 
  • Saint Mary’s Park Houses 
  • Glenwood Houses 

If you are notified by the property management office that HUD inspectors will visit your apartment, you or another adult must be home for the inspection, or you must make arrangements to allow the inspectors into your apartment.  

For more information on NSPIRE, visit www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/reac/nspire