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Global property inspection software Property Inspect partners with Arlington County VA to automate housing quality standards inspection reports (HQS) to streamline the property inspection and accountability processes for their Housing Choice Voucher programs (HCV program).
This comes at a time where inspections are seen as an important requirement in the property criteria process for Housing & Urban Development and with congress introducing the “HUD Inspection Act of 2021” which will expand HUD’s response to properties within its subsidized portfolio and address low physical inspection scores.
The Choice affordable Housing Act Bill aims to streamline some of the processes including inspections, making it more desirable for landlords to enter the program.
Arlington County VA’s Department of Community Planning, Housing & Development is a federally funded and locally administered Arlington Housing Choice Voucher Program which helps low-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities access safe, decent, and affordable housing in the private market.
For the Housing Choice Voucher program, HUD requires the housing quality standards (HQS) inspection to be performed for all properties and units. Until now, the standard practice has been to create and store mostly hand-written notes and individual pictures, added to a variety of differing online forms. By partnering with Property Inspect, Arlington has taken this inefficient and costly process and automated the HQS inspection process so notes, images and videos of units can be instantly added to digital reports in the field. This innovative approach to information capturing saves valuable time and money for the county.
When deficiencies in a unit are identified they are highlighted within the report and a separate deficiency report is generated and sent to the landlord, which includes time stamped imagery, video and notes.
Property Inspect has enabled Arlington to drive these efficiencies by utilising their inspection app and custom templates designed around the HUD process. The options available include:
- Inspectors enabled to carry out inspections via a simple to use mobile-app based template
- Date and time-embedded pictures that enable the inspector to gather evidence including video with deficinces highlighted and action points assigned whilst at the property action points around deficiencies found at the property
- Empowering tenants by giving them a role in the process by adding a tenant feedback section to the reports
- Reduce the administrative process and give back time to the inspection teams by providing uniform reports and unlimited storage capability / capacity
- Tenant Feedback: Arlington has added a new section for tenants to provide feedback and living conditions giving a voice to tenants through the process
With the advancements in inspection software, including live & remote inspections and the ability to document and create reports via mobile apps; Property Inspect is leading the evolution of localized HUD mandated inspection processes.
By automating inspection processes for HQS, Rapid Re-Housing, Rental Assistance, Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) and more, Property Inspect is the platform that Arlington, allChicago and the City of Baltimore relies on to better serve the landlords and residents of their cities that participate in the HUD programs.
Working with an increasing number of municipalities across the US; Property Inspect will help you to improve and streamline your property reporting processes. For more information or to book a demo, please visit www.propertyinspect.com/hud
