Overview of Housing Quality Standards Inspections

PHA's Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program assists low income families in leasing decent, safe, and sanitary housing at an affordable cost in Philadelphia's private rental market.  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), developed Housing Quality Standards (HQS) that establish the minimum requirements housing must meet before rental assistance is provided under the HCV Program.

The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) is responsible for ensuring that each unit occupied by a HCV Program Participant meets HQS prior to initial occupancy and at least once every 24 months (2 years).

The HQS Inspection Resource Guide and checklist is designed to increase Owner's understanding of how the HQS Inspection process works, your responsibilities as a participating HCV owner, and how to maintain your unit while under Contract with PHA.

Click here to view the HQS Inspection Resource Guide.

The PHA HQS Inspection Checklist included in the Guide has been created to assist HCV Owners with conducting pre-inspections prior to the scheduled PHA HQS inspection. The items listed in the document does not contain all possible failures, however, it does cover items that fail frequently.  It is the owner, landlord, or property manager's responsibility to ensure that HQS repairs have been completed sufficiently and timely. Repairs determined to be insufficient, incomplete, or repairs completed with improper material will be issued a failed rating.

The HQS Inspection Resource Guide is intended to be used together with PHA's Standard Operating Procedures for the Lead Safe Housing Rule and Lead Disclosure Rule, referenced throughout the Guide.

Click here to view PHA's Standard Operating Procedures for the Lead Safe Housing Rule and Lead Disclosure Rule.

Owners of units participating in both the tenant-based housing assistance (HCV) and project-based voucher assistance programs must provide a completed lead disclosure form and the Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home pamphlet to every household upon leasing a unit. Owners can retrieve a printable copy of the "Protect Your Family" pamphlet from the PHA website http://www.pha.phila.gov/lead-information/lead-prevention-resources.

Please also visit our Landlord Data Center at partnerportal.pha.phila.gov/partnerportal, where you can access all HQS inspection data for your HCV program units. The portal provides the following Inspection features for owners and property managers: 

• Request re-inspections
• View Abatements
• View Inspection Results including failure reports
• View upcoming inspection dates

Owners may also contact PHA's HCV Inspections Department at 215-684-3860 or via email at hcvinspection@pha.phila.gov, with any questions.