When Will I See REAC Inspections Again?
3-24-2021

 

Looking ahead, this is a question in the back of everyone’s mind as vaccines are distributed; business and schools start to open back up; and life starts to return to a sense of normalcy.   

 

On October 5, 2020 REAC officially returned to operations (RTO) from the announced COVID-19 shutdown.    They have returned to operations by restarting REAC uniform physical condition standards inspections for public housing and multi-family properties.  However, local pandemic conditions dictate when actually inspections can occur and very few inspections have taken place since then.    Conducting REAC inspections during the pandemic requires special considerations and policies.  The details of these items were provided in HUD’s COVID-19 blanket waivers and webinars from HUD.  The scheduling phase of REAC inspections requires that the local county area “be in the green” for 6 weeks before the REAC Inspector can schedule an inspection.  Also, any local restrictions are taken into consideration.  To “be in the green” means that there is less than 1 case per 100,000 people in a specific county.  REAC uses a “heat map” for risk maintained by the website Global Epidemics:  https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/   
This current map as of March 24, 2021 shows very little “green” counties in the United States with most being in the Midwest in lower populated areas.  Once one of these “green” counties stays “green” for six weeks, then the REAC inspector can schedule inspections in that county by providing a 14 day notice.  So in effect, to answer the question:  “When will I see REAC again?, the earliest date is eight weeks from when your county turns green.  So keep an eye on the “heat map” for your county.  Realize this is potentially the earliest that REAC could show up since they are catching up in a priority manner.  REAC restart priority is based on lower scoring properties or properties scheduled in 2020 that were missed.
 

So a strategy for earliest expectation of a REAC inspection is 8 weeks from when your local county COVID case rate drops to less than 1 case per 100,000 or simply when your county turns green.

 

Of noteworthy interest:  If you were accepted in the NSPIRE pilot demonstration and are contacted by a REAC inspector, then you must inform the inspector of your NSPIRE participation and that you are excluded from the REAC inspection.  The inspector will verify the information and then should remove you from the list.  They are not given this information ahead of time.

 

Best of luck with your inspections,
COO/Chief Inspector
American Property Consultants, Inc.
A Nationwide Inspection & Consulting Company
800-272-7134