Residents
A resident is a household the authority already houses. Admitting an applicant makes one, and so does importing residents from a spreadsheet. The Residents group in the admin console holds four pages: Residents, Recertifications, Interim changes and Rent notices. This page covers the first; the other three are in Recertification.
The Residents list
Residents lists every household the authority houses, including those who have left. Export residents and Import residents sit at the top.
| Tile | Counts |
|---|---|
| Households | Every household, including those who have left |
| Not in a unit yet | Households with no unit against them that have not left |
| Recertification due this year | Households still housed whose next recertification is due by 31 December, overdue ones included |
| Left the program | Households with a move-out recorded |
The chips above the tiles filter the table: Everyone, Not in a unit, Housed and Left, each with its count. The search box narrows within the chosen chip. It matches the household's name, every member's name, the unit, the property, the head's email and the case number the spreadsheet gave them.
| Column | Shows |
|---|---|
| Household | The head's name, how many people, and "imported as" the spreadsheet's case number where there was one |
| Unit | The unit and property, "Not in a unit", or the day they left |
| Rent | The monthly rent on file |
| Next recertification | When the next one is due. Blank once they have left |
| Helper | The household's standing helper, if they have one |
Households waiting on a unit are listed first and shaded, with Place in a unit on the row. Every row has Open. The ... menu on a household that has not left holds Open the family, Move to another unit (only when they are in one) and Record a move-out.
Export residents downloads an Excel workbook in the same columns as the residents import template, one row per person. Households that have left are not in it, and dates of birth are left blank. With more than one program, it asks which program, or All programs. Each export is written to the audit log.
A household's file
Open shows the household's file. The header names the household and its unit, with All residents, and, depending on where they stand, Place in a unit, Move to another unit and Record a move-out.
Under the header a chip says Housed, Not in a unit, or "Left" and the date. An imported household also has an "Imported as" chip with its case number, and the move-in date is shown beside them.
Who lives here
Every member, with their relationship and whether they are a dependant, a full-time student or disabled. Identity is shown only as "Date of birth on file" and the last four digits of the Social Security number.
Contact
The Contact card holds the household's contact details and how it is written to.
| Field | What it is | Changing it |
|---|---|---|
| Signs in as | The address the household's file is reached with, and the one a helper invitation is checked against | Change the address they sign in as. Takes effect only when confirmed |
| We write to | Where the household asks to be written to. Blank means the sign-in address | Edit. Takes effect at once |
| Phone | The household's phone number | Edit. Takes effect at once |
| Letters go to | The mailing address for letters from the mail queue. "The unit" when blank | Edit, under Mailing address. Takes effect at once |
| Send notices on paper as well | Whether every recertification notice is also queued as a letter | Edit. Takes effect at once |
Under them the card lists the household's letters: those in the mail queue and the last five mailed.
We write to grants nothing, so it changes as soon as it is saved. A sync with CivicPort can also change it, and the phone number, to what the resident keeps there.
The sign-in address decides who can open the household's file, so staff propose it rather than set it.
- Press Change the address they sign in as.
- Enter the New address and press Send the confirmation.
- The new address is emailed a link. Until someone follows it, the household still signs in with the old address.
The link is valid for 14 days and needs no sign-in. While it is outstanding the card says who it is waiting for and when it expires, with Cancel. The new address cannot be the standing helper's. The household's side is in Your account.
Who does the recertification
A household can have a standing helper: one person who is invited to every recertification as it opens and gets every notice alongside the household. Make me their helper names the staff member; Name somebody else takes an email, name, relationship and what they may do. Change and End it manage an existing one. See Helpers for what helpers can do.
Recertifications
Every recertification the household has had, annual or interim, with its stage and effective date, and Open for each. Under them the card says when the next one is due and either "opens automatically before then" or, for a household with no unit, "nothing opens until they are in a unit". An imported household has nothing from before the import.
Signed lease
The leases signed through Housing, each opening the PDF. The card appears only when there is one. See Leases and e-signatures.
VAWA file
Only on a household with a VAWA emergency transfer: the documentation held, when the notice of rights was given, the forms, and whether the unit is confidential. See VAWA emergency transfers.
Tenancy
The Tenancy card shows the unit and since when, every earlier unit with the date they left it, the rent, the household's add-ons and the contact address.
A household moved under VAWA shows Confidential unit · VAWA under its name, and the card masks the unit. Reveal the unit shows it, and every reveal is written to the audit log with your name and the time. The earlier units still show.
Under the rent is its basis:
| Basis | Means |
|---|---|
| Recorded from the import, not calculated | The figure was typed in when the household was placed, not worked out |
| Basis: transfer | A new figure was typed in when they moved unit |
| Anything else | The rule the rent was worked out under |
Where the household has add-ons, each is listed with its monthly amount, then "Billed" with the rent and add-ons together. Add what they take, or Change what they take once there are some, opens the add-ons. See Add-ons.
CivicPort
The CivicPort card appears for a household in a unit, when the authority's Send tenancies to CivicPort setting is on. A chip says where they stand.
| Chip | Means |
|---|---|
| Not across yet | Not on CivicPort. Syncing invites them |
| Invited | Invited from Housing, at the address shown |
| Linked | Linked to someone who already had a CivicPort account. No invite was sent, and their rent bills to that account |
| Record only | No email address, so CivicPort keeps them as a record. Their rent is billed and payments are tracked, but they cannot sign in |
Sync with CivicPort sends what is waiting: the invite, the vehicles, pets and contacts from the import, and the rent. It brings back the phone number and contact address the resident keeps in CivicPort. A difference in who lives in the unit is reported, not applied, because that is a recertification. Run it again and it says when there is nothing to do.
Find them on CivicPort is for a resident who is already in the community under another address. Search by name or email, pick the person and press Link to them. No invite is sent. On a household already linked the button reads Link to somebody else. Linking needs the staff member to be a CivicPort admin of the property's community.
Linking does not change the address the household signs in to Housing with. A household with no address at all takes the linked resident's address where CivicPort has verified it.
Placing a household in a unit
A household with no unit, usually one imported from a spreadsheet, is placed with Place in a unit, from the list or the file. Housing does not guess a unit from the spreadsheet.
- Pick the Property. Only properties on the household's program are offered.
- Pick the Unit. Only vacant units are listed, and a unit committed to another program is not offered.
- Check the Move-in date. It comes from the import.
- Enter Rent they pay now. It is a fact, not a calculation; their next recertification works it out.
- Press Put them in unit.
The unit becomes occupied and the household starts with every add-on the building gives every unit. Where the property is linked to CivicPort and the household has an email address, they are invited there and their rent is billed. Where it is not linked, or there is no address, they are still placed and the dialog says why nothing was sent.
Moving to another unit
Move to another unit moves a housed household and keeps the tenancy. The rent, the rent history, the recertification date and the original move-in date all stay. It is not a move-out.
- Pick the Property and a vacant Unit.
- Set the Move date. The old unit is vacant from then.
- Enter a New rent (optional). Blank keeps what they pay; a new figure starts on the move date.
- Leave Open a turnover inspection ticked to open one on the old unit.
- Press Move them to unit.
The old unit goes on the Tenancy card's history. A move to a different building replaces the household's add-ons with the new building's every-unit ones. A move into a different CivicPort community stops the rent in the old community and invites them in the new one.
Recording a move-out
Record a move-out ends a tenancy. It is on the file and in the list's ... menu.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Last day of tenancy | Defaults to today |
| Why the tenancy ended | Moved out, Transferred to another unit, Lease terminated, Evicted, Deceased, Abandoned the unit or Other |
| Note for the file | Optional |
| Open a turnover inspection | Ticked by default. Shown when the household is in a unit |
Pressing Record the move-out does all of this at once:
- The unit goes back on the vacancy list, vacant from the day after the last day.
- Any open recertification is cancelled and the notices stop, to the household and to their standing helper.
- Their rent stops being billed in CivicPort.
- The household is archived, not deleted. It stays on Residents under Left, and the file is marked to be kept for 3 years from the last day. Nothing is deleted on that date; it is recorded, not enforced.
- Their CivicPort resident account is left alone.
The turnover inspection is opened on the unit for the day after the last day, unless the unit already has an open inspection. See Inspections.
Undoing a move-out
A household that has left shows a banner with the date, the reason, the note and who recorded it. Undo the move-out puts them back in their unit, but only while the unit is still empty. Once someone else is in it, the undo is refused. A recertification cancelled by the move-out stays cancelled; open a new one.
Add-ons
An add-on is something a building provides on top of the unit, such as internet, a parking space or a storage locker. It is never rent: the rent is worked out from income and a recertification never touches add-ons. They are added to the rent only in what CivicPort bills, as one monthly figure.
There are three levels.
| Level | Where | Sets |
|---|---|---|
| Authority | Settings → Add-on names | The names, so every building charges for the same thing under the same name |
| Property | Properties → Included | The monthly price in that building, and whether it comes with Every unit |
| Household | The file → Add what they take | Which of the building's add-ons this household has |
On Included, leave an amount blank and the building does not provide it. A name typed there with Add one joins the authority's list. Untick Every unit for one a household has to ask for, like parking.
A household placed in a building starts with its every-unit add-ons at that day's price. The household's own list offers only what its building provides, at the building's price; a different price for one family is a different add-on, set on the property. Saving a household's add-ons does not send the new total to CivicPort; Sync with CivicPort does.