Settings and support access
Settings in the Housing app sidebar is the authority's own record: what it is called, how its mail looks, and the few choices that change what applicants and residents see. Authority administrators use it.
The page, Authority settings, is organised in tabs. The address bar remembers the tab, so a link can open one directly.
| Tab | Cards on it |
|---|---|
| The authority | The authority, Support access |
| Mail & branding | How your mail looks |
| Leases & signing | Standard lease, Emergency transfer plan, E-signatures, Signing the lease, Add-on names |
| Residents | Sending to CivicPort, What applicants and residents see |
| Features | What the authority runs and how its add-ons behave. See Add-ons and feature switches |
| Finance | Only when the Finance add-on is on. The payer, bank accounts, Plaid feeds and direct deposit details. See Finance settings |
The authority
The authority's name and contact details. Press Save after changing them.
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Name | Applicants see it on their application, in every email and on the public apply page. Required |
| Contact email | Where an applicant is told to write when they need a person |
| Address | Where the authority is. Used to find its HUD area for income limits |
The address can be edited here only by a Housing-only authority, one that bought Housing without CivicPort. An authority that runs a CivicPort community sees Address, from CivicPort instead, with each community's location. It is kept in CivicPort; change it there and Housing follows.
How your mail looks
Every notice Housing sends goes out from the authority: an eligibility decision, a recertification notice, an inspection appointment. Add a logo or a colour and the mail arrives in the authority's branding instead of CivicPort's.
The card shows a preview of the top bar and the "Sent by" line of an email. With no branding they read CivicPort in CivicPort blue.
| Setting | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Brand colour | A six-digit hex colour, such as #2563eb. Used for the bar at the top of each email |
| Upload logo | A PNG, JPEG, WebP or SVG file under 2 MB. It replaces the name in the bar |
- Type the colour and press Save branding.
- Press Upload logo (Replace logo once there is one) and pick the file. The logo is saved as soon as it uploads; there is nothing more to press.
The logo is stored publicly, because mail programs fetch images with no sign-in. Use the logo already on the authority's own website.
Remove branding clears both the colour and the logo, and mail goes back to the CivicPort look.
Standard lease
The lease the office sends to an admitted household. Upload it as a PDF and match each blank to a fact from the household's file or a fixed value. See Leases and e-signatures.
On a fillable PDF, Set up fields lists every blank. A text blank is Filled with one of these:
| Choice | What fills the blank |
|---|---|
| Staff type it each time | Nothing. It is blank on the send screen until staff fill it in |
| The same value on every lease | The Value typed here, such as a late fee |
| From the household's file | One fact, such as Head of household's name, Unit, Monthly rent the tenant pays, Lease start date or Housing authority name. HAP contract facts, such as Rent to owner, are in the same list |
A tick box or a choice on the PDF has Starts as instead: Staff decide each time, or a fixed answer.
What it is says what a template is for, and which screen offers it:
| What it is | Offered from |
|---|---|
| Our lease | The Lease card on an application |
| HAP contract (vouchers) | The voucher card |
| VAWA certification (HUD-5382), VAWA emergency transfer request (HUD-5383), VAWA notice of occupancy rights (HUD-5380) | The emergency transfer dialog and the household's VAWA file. See VAWA emergency transfers |
| Emergency transfer plan (HUD-5381, adopted) | Nowhere: it is the authority's adopted plan, picked on the card below |
Emergency transfer plan
HUD requires every assisted authority to adopt an emergency transfer plan for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. Housing applies the plan on the transfer list; this card records that it exists.
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| The plan, as adopted | A PDF uploaded above with What it is set to Emergency transfer plan |
| Adopted on | The date the board adopted it |
| The tick box | That the notice of occupancy rights (HUD-5380) and the certification form (HUD-5382) are given at admission, at each recertification and with any notice of adverse action |
The chip reads Adopted once a date is saved, and Not recorded until then. Save records it.
E-signatures
The authority's balance of e-signature credits, where more are bought, and Who signs for the authority. See Buying e-signatures.
Add-on names
The list of extras a building can charge for, such as internet, a parking space or a storage locker. The authority keeps the names; each building sets its own price.
- At most 20 names, each one different. Two names that differ only in capital letters count as the same.
- Add one adds a row, Remove takes one off, and Save the list saves it. Every row needs a name.
- What each building charges, and whether every unit gets it, is set on the building under Properties. That is also where a new add-on is added.
- Renaming or removing one here changes it everywhere.
Add-ons are not rent. Rent is worked out from income and does not change because a building has wifi. See How rent is worked out.
Signing the lease
Require a signed lease before admitting decides whether a household can be admitted before its lease is signed. It is off to start with.
| Setting | What happens |
|---|---|
| Off | Admitting puts the household in the unit straight away. The lease is prepared afterwards |
| On | The office assigns a unit first, which holds it. The lease is filled from that offer and signed, by e-signature or on paper with the signed copy uploaded. Only then can the household be admitted |
Sending to CivicPort
Send tenancies to CivicPort decides whether an admitted household is handed to CivicPort. It is on to start with.
| Setting | What happens |
|---|---|
| On | An admitted household gets a CivicPort account, and their rent is billed there. A resident with no email address is kept as a record, so their rent and the cheques they pay it with are still tracked |
| Off | The authority runs its housing in Housing alone. Nothing is sent to CivicPort: no account for the resident and no rent billed there. Admitting someone puts them in a unit and stops |
With it on, Sync all with CivicPort sends every household living in a unit across. Use it for residents who were in Housing before the properties were linked, or before the setting was turned on.
- It sends what has not gone and leaves the rest alone, so running it twice is safe.
- It works through ten households at a time and keeps going until none are left. The line under the button counts up as it goes.
- When it finishes, the line reads, for example, "40 sent, 12 already across, 3 keeping their own records, 1 could not go." "Keeping their own records" means the resident now keeps their own cars, pets and contacts in CivicPort. Each household that could not go is listed by name with the reason.
What applicants and residents see
| Setting | Starts | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Show an applicant their place on the waitlist | On | Applicants see their place in the queue in the applicant app. A list kept by drawing shows no place until the drawing is held |
| A helper may sign for a household, once their authorization document is verified | Off | Lets a household offer a helper the Fill in and sign scope. See Helpers |
The card also shows the authority's full public apply link under Public apply page, with Copy. Send applicants that link. It is also on the Waitlist under Share apply link.
Support access
CivicPort support cannot see the authority's applicants, residents or their documents. To let them look at something, an administrator gives them a code from this card. Its history is a record of everyone who has been let in.
Giving support a code
- Under Give support a code, pick how long the session may last: 1, 4, 8 or 24 hours.
- Pick what they can do: Look, don't touch or Look and make changes.
- Fill in What is it for, such as a ticket number and the problem. It is required, and it stays on the record.
- Press Create a code.
The code is eight letters and numbers, in two groups of four. Read it to support. It is shown once and cannot be shown again.
- The code works once, and only for this authority.
- Unused, it expires after 30 minutes. A code that is lost or expired is replaced with a new one.
- The session's time starts when support uses the code.
- Under Look, don't touch, support can open screens but every change is refused, on every screen.
When support asks
Support can ask to be let in from their side. Every administrator of the authority gets an email, "CivicPort support is asking for access", with who is asking and what they say they need, and a link to this card. Asking gives them nothing.
The request shows at the top of the card. Give them a code fills in their reason, which can be changed; pick the length and scope and press Create a code. Dismiss turns the request down.
Ending a session
While support is in, the card shows who it is, what they said they are looking at, what they can do and when it ends. End it now shuts them out straight away. Cancel it stops a code that has not been used yet.
The record
Who has been in lists every code and request, newest first, with who issued it, when it was used and when and by whom it was ended.
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Asking | Support has asked and nobody has answered |
| Answered | A code was given in answer to a request |
| Code not used yet | Issued, not yet used, under 30 minutes old |
| In your data now | Support is in a session now |
| Finished | The session ran to its end |
| Ended | Ended early by the authority, or by support leaving, or a code cancelled before it was used |
| Expired unused | Nobody used the code within 30 minutes |
| Cancelled | A request that was dismissed |
Each code and request is kept for three years. Issuing, using and ending a code are also written to the audit log.
What CivicPort staff see
CivicPort staff have an Authorities page listing every housing authority: its name, state, apply page and number of programs, and whether it is Live or Setting up. Nothing on it names an applicant or a resident. Without a code, every other screen for that authority is refused.
- Ask for access asks the authority. Staff write what they need to look at, and every administrator is emailed.
- Enter a code opens a session. Staff type the code and What you need to look at, which the authority reads next to their name, and press Start the session.
During a session a dark band runs across the top of every page with the authority's name, what the code allows and when the session ends. Leave now ends the session early.