Simplify Resident Management Oct14

Simplify Resident Management

The events of the past several months necessitated major shifts in the housing industry. The pandemic made it clear—if there had been any doubts—that the future of efficient, healthy social housing relies on integrated technology. When it comes to tenant files, bypassing physical touch points reduces exposure risk while increasing process efficacy. The latter benefit carries with social housing providers long after the pandemic has faded from conversation. Integrated leasing and property management technology expedites daily processes by digitizing, streamlining and automating tasks. One of the first steps towards greater efficiency begins with tenant portals. When resident portals integrate with back-end property management technology, the results are improved safety, maximized compliance and more accurate reporting. Ontario housing receive a mandatory tech makeover Leasing social housing units has always been an elaborate process: paper applications, manual reviews, in-person interviews, and seemingly endless data entry were a few trademarks of the process before online portals. Redundant and tedious tasks can cause staff burnout, costly errors and inconsistent tenant experiences. The pandemic forced social housing to evolve. Social housing management has been transformed by social distancing protocols and health guidelines. The transformation is changing office processes and the work environment. Months into the pandemic, an industry that has been accustomed to incremental change is adapting online leasing tools at a rapid pace. Technology, such as online tenant portals, comes with a host of benefits for social housing providers and tenants. 5 Benefits of a tenant portal for housing providers Tenant portals are tools of empowerment. Staff members benefit from online portals in five major ways: Save staff time with online and automated services. Online portals make data management easier for staff. Tenants enter their own data which is seamlessly integrated with back-end software. This reduces data entry for staff, minimizes errors and eliminates redundancy. Simplify resident management with user portals. Staff experience significantly fewer phone calls and in-person meetings when they can conduct rent geared to income (RGI) reviews and resident management tasks online. There is also less downtime between correspondences: no waiting on snail mail or returning calls. Improve financial management. Accurate reporting is crucial to long-term success. Online portals facilitate faster reporting. Housing providers can leverage software that supports provincial, municipal, board and internal reporting requirements. Staff can also create custom reports from any web-enabled device. Housing providers can also generate more complete rent collection and rent geared to income (RGI) reviews with user-submitted data. Increase data accuracy and accessibility. Physical documents are stored on premises and not accessible in remote work environments. Online portals facilitate telecommuting by storing resident information in a secure database that staff can access in the leasing office or their remote work locations. Enjoy a simple, single sign-in. Managing multiple software products requires multiple credentials for staff. Staff must manually rekey and update renter profile information in multiple locations if errors are made or changes are necessary. With an integrated solution complete with portals, tenants manage their own personal information. When staff must intervene, there is a single sign in and greater consistency throughout the leasing and RGI review process. Through the gained efficiencies of user portals, staff members are empowered to shift their focus from tedious tasks to building relationships and offering stellar services. Top 3 benefits of a tenant portal for tenants Tenant portals also empower residents. Users can safely and easily complete tasks with three added benefits: Offer convenience and flexibility. Tenants can gain 24/7 access via web browsers to their customizable profiles. A simple, self-service data entry process allows them to update personal information, complete forms and review their status. With a website, tenants can interact with staff without the restrictions of leasing office hours. They can also communicate with staff and receive responses via SMS/text messaging that abide by CASL requirements. Increase accuracy for annual or interim reviews. Residents can log in at their convenience and update RGI information. They...

Simplify Social Housing...

Social housing providers in Ontario strive to improve efficiencies and remain compliant while providing the best outcomes for residents and their communities. As non-profit organizations, achieving those goals on limited resources can be tough. But with innovative software, achieving success in social housing management is revolutionized.  Yardi Voyager Social Housing leverages tried-and-true best practices to offer secure and powerful software with a single, integrated database. Intuitive workflows, convenient automation, and industry-specific tools make subsidized housing management simpler. Voyager Social Housing empowers providers to save time, save money, and thrive. Empower Staff for Success Staff efficiency is essential to success in social housing. Peter Altobelli, vice president and general manager of Yardi Canada explains, “Yardi understands the demands and changes within this industry. ONPHA serves more than 700 non-profit housing providers over 400,000 people in 163,000 homes within Ontario. It’s important work and they’re doing a great job, but turnover is high and resources are limited for providers.” To make the most of available resources, Voyager Social Housing facilitates optimal operation of Canada’s non-profit housing. In addition to robust accounting tools, Voyager Social Housing helps manage RGI (rent-geared-to-income) reviews, Rent Supplement programs and facilities management. The cloud-based software equips staff members with the fundamental tools needed to work confidently and efficiently in the office and offsite. With the integrated general ledger, staff avoids repetitive data entry and costly errors. Streamlined workflows make it easier to obtain consistency, reduce inaccuracies and coordinate efforts among team members. Staying compliant is also simplified with easy-to-follow workflows. With redundancy and discord minimized, staff is free to focus on more critical tasks. Simplifying Rent Voyager Social Housing offers features that simplify RGI reviews: Provincial requirements can be readily updated in Voyager, making it easier to calculate rents using the most...