The Department of Housing and Urban Development stopped conducting mandatory health and safety inspections from May 6 until Monday May 20th due to a failed update from HUD's IT vendor. Tenants and tenant advocates, including members of LOFTE rely on these inspections to insure the health and safety of tenants living in the building.

With the new NSPIRE tenants and advocates within LOFTE were hopeful this would better address more of the concerns around mold and other issues in the units versus the exterior of the buildings. In recent months, LOFTE members had identified several buildings that need immediate attention because of health and safety concerns. But many advocates have noted that the implementation of NSPIRE has gotten off to a rocky start.At times, inspectors deducted points based on the old standards rather than the new ones

LOFTE chair and Executive director of the Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants was quoted saying “It just means that people suffer longer,”. “It’s frustrating because people were eager and hopeful that this was going to help their lives.”

You can read the full article by Suzy Khimm of NBC News here