If you have received notice from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) that your affordable housing community is scheduled to undergo an inspection from HUD’s Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC), then you need not panic. Instead, take a few hours off to prepare for the visit to ensure that the REAC inspection passes off with higher marks and you can maintain your federal funding.
The primary reason for REAC is to ensure safe, decent, and sanitary conditions for low-income residents living in housing funded and supported by federal funds. Physical inspections by either HUD inspectors or HUD-approved, privately-owned inspection companies are to safeguard the safety and maintenance of all HUD properties.
The best way to prepare is to:
- Conduct a walk-through of your property monthly.
- Visually check areas like electrical rooms, boiler room, storage room, and trash room chutes for any repairs or maintenance.
- Look for external hazards like branches of trees touching the building, which in general should be removed.
In addition,
- Chart out a list of items that need attention and who will be responsible for the repairs; in some cases, professional contractors will be needed while in other cases, maintenance crew on-site will be able to fix them. In some others, parts will need to be ordered.
- Make sure that the boiler room is free of water leaks from pipes or boilers, etc.
- Inspect electrical panels for any kind of exposed wires or gap space greater than ¼ inch. This will need an electrical cover to close the gap.
When ensuring annual apartment building inspections, a work order needs to be created for any deficiencies that are found like, damaged front door hardware or broken light fixtures, and so on; and repairs done within a week of the inspection.
Also, when an item is subjected to inspection, it should be so designed by the manufacturer, and be ready before the physical check of all items like doors, windows, etc, to make sure that they are all working properly and safely.
Guidance On How To Prepare For REAC Inspections
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