Housing and Neighborhood Development: Virtual Inspections

The Challenge

Rental permit periods typically cover 3-5 years, so if a new rental registration or an existing one comes up for renewal, property owners must schedule an inspection with the Housing and Neighborhood Development (HAND) department. The general inspection process consists of a high-level walkthrough ensuring smoke detectors and door locks are in working order, among other things. When Brent Pierce, acting interim Director of HAND started on the job in early November 2020 he found the COVID pandemic was affecting the schedule and execution of inspections because either property managers had COVID, had been exposed to it, or simply wished to limit their interaction with city workers out of an abundance of caution. Brent decided HAND had the capability to make some changes and offer alternative methods depending on the comfort level or health of local property managers.

The Idea

With the help of CARES Act funding in mid-2020, HAND was able to replenish its iPad inventory. As such, while still offering traditional in-person inspections, HAND began to roll out a virtual inspection option. Brent put together a standard operating procedure (SOP) document to outline what the new process would look like. The eight-step process began with a property owner’s request via phone call for a virtual inspection. The front line staff would complete the registration and schedule the inspection, notify the appropriate inspector based on the district, and then the inspector and property owners would coordinate the specific expectations. Property owners could use their preferred app/system (Facetime, Zoom, Skype) via any device they had (phone, iPad, laptop) to conduct inspections. To make sure the property they are seeing virtually is the actual property, HAND Inspectors are typically at the property at the time of inspection, but simply remain in their vehicle or outside. This is how they are able to verify the correct property is being inspected. If they are not on-site, the tenant/owner will confirm the address/unit via camera from outside the property. See the graphic for a full breakdown of the SOP.

The Cost

HAND’s iPads cost $329 apiece, and the HAND department received 9 total--ITS facilitated the purchases. Because the CARES Act funding supplied the iPads used for virtual inspections, no funds came out of the City’s budget to offer this new option! Rather, HAND was saving resources and keeping their employees and property owners comfortable and safe by modifying existing processes amid the COVID pandemic. Originally, HAND considered using a third-party provider to build out a case management system for virtual inspections, before realizing they could already do exactly what the third-party package provided. So they decided to keep the efforts in-house and as a result, did not encounter costs. 

The Benefit 

The virtual inspection option has proved to be a great success, and according to Brent, will continue to be offered even when COVID is no longer a primary concern. Property owners and HAND inspectors have not encountered any issues thus far. HAND inspectors have found the virtual inspections helpful because they can take the video or screenshots of the video inspection and add it to a property’s file. By using technology both inspectors and property owners were already accustomed to (iPads, Zoom), HAND was able to pivot and offer an innovative adaptation to traditional service delivery. In leveraging technology to increase efficiency, HAND was also able to prioritize the health and safety of its employees and residents alike. For information on how iPads, in general, have increased department efficiency by allowing for more fieldwork check out another innovation story on the topic here (https://bloomington.in.gov/success/2018/01/30/4591). 

Metadata

City Department(s): Housing & Neighborhood Development

City Point of Contact: Brent Pierce 

Partner(s): N/A

Partner(s) Point(s) of Contact: N/A

Type of Innovation: Technical/Software; Process Improvement

Date Implemented: November 2020