What Binds You

HOME-Assisted Rentals: Property Standards and Pests

Written for: Owners of HOME-assisted rental property; city and county housing departments acting as HOME participating jurisdictions

HOME rental property is held to property standards set by the participating jurisdiction (the city, county or state that administers the HOME funds), for the whole affordability period. The federal rule sets what those standards must contain.

The rule

(f) Ongoing property condition standards and inspections: Rental housing and housing occupied by tenants receiving HOME tenant-based rental assistance—(1) Ongoing property standards. The participating jurisdiction must establish property standards for rental housing (including manufactured housing) that apply throughout the period of affordability and for housing occupied by tenants receiving HOME tenant-based rental assistance. The standards must require that owners maintain the housing as decent, safe, sanitary, and in good repair. — 24 CFR 92.251(f)(1)

Local codes come first. Where there are none, HUD’s deficiency list is the floor:

(i) Compliance with State and local codes, ordinances, and requirements. The participating jurisdiction’s standards must require the housing to meet all applicable State and local code requirements and ordinances. In the absence of existing applicable State or local code requirements and ordinances, at a minimum, the participating jurisdiction’s ongoing property standards must provide that the property does not contain the specific deficiencies established by HUD based on the applicable standards in 24 CFR 5.703 and published in the Federal Register for HOME rental housing (including manufactured housing) and housing occupied by tenants receiving HOME tenant-based rental assistance, except that the carbon monoxide detection requirements at 24 CFR 5.703(b)(2) and (d)(6) shall not apply. — 24 CFR 92.251(f)(1)(i)

And infestation is one of the health and safety concerns in 24 CFR 5.703:

Types of health and safety concerns include, but are not limited to carbon monoxide, electrical hazards, extreme temperature, flammable materials or other fire hazards, garbage and debris, handrail hazards, infestation, lead-based paint, mold, and structural soundness. — 24 CFR 5.703(e)(1)

The NSPIRE date for HOME: April 14, 2027

HUD’s April 2026 notice set April 14, 2027 as the compliance date for the NSPIRE standards and the 2025 HOME rule’s property standards. Projects with written agreements signed before that date may stay on the previous standards:

For all activities with written agreements executed prior to the compliance date, participating jurisdictions and grantees may continue to comply with the previous standards as defined in the HOME and HTF regulations at 24 CFR parts 92 and 93, respectively. — 91 FR 19145, at 19146

HOME uses the NSPIRE standards but not NSPIRE scoring:

The participating jurisdiction’s property standards are not required to comply with 24 CFR 5.705 through 5.713. — 24 CFR 92.251(f)(1)(i)

The notice’s appendix lists the deficiencies that apply to HOME rentals, and it includes all nine infestation deficiencies. Their wording and severity are on the NSPIRE Infestation reference.

What to ask your participating jurisdiction

Professional synthesis, not law

• Which standard applies to your project today: the jurisdiction’s existing standards under your written agreement, or the NSPIRE-based standards for agreements signed on or after April 14, 2027.
• Whether the jurisdiction’s ongoing standards rely on a local housing code (which may have its own pest language) or on the HUD deficiency list as the floor.
• What the jurisdiction wants to see when an inspection records a pest deficiency. HUD’s NSPIRE notice accepts the start of a documented pest management plan as correction for NSPIRE programs; whether your jurisdiction applies the same reading is its call.