The System Setup module Residence Units feature is used to enter, update, delete, and close out units in residential programs. Corresponding reports generated from data entered in this feature are accessible from the Reports module.
IMPORTANT! Before residence units are added to a residential program, that program's housing capacity should be set using the System Setup module, Agency Program Information, Add/Edit Entire Program feature.
Required Permissions
Unless you are a member of the "Executive Officer" and "System Administrator" user group, use of the Residence Units feature requires the following permissions:
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Program chart access
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Create Residence Units
AND at least ONE of the following permissions:
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Display Executive Administration Buttons
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Permissions Data Entry
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Permissions Data Entry for All Staff and Layers
Permissions are assigned using the Permissions Maintenance feature. If you do not have access to that feature and need the permission listed here, please contact your supervisor or your local Help Desk for assistance.
Maintaining Residence Units Information
To enter, update the information for, close out, or delete a residence unit, complete the following steps from the AWARDS Home screen:
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Click the Program drop-down arrow in the upper-right corner of the page and select the program for which the residence units information is to be worked with.
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Click Administration from the left-hand menu, and then click System Setup. The System Setup fly-out menu is displayed.
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Click Residence Units. The Residence Units Data Entry page is displayed.
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At this time, complete one or more of the following data entry tasks as needed:
For a summary of residence units data entry tips see below.
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Add a new residence unit - To do so, configure the blank New Unit fields at the bottom of the page as necessary. For more information on each residence unit field and option, see the Residence Unit Record Fields/Options below.
During the process of adding residence units, keep in mind the following:
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If other residence units have already been entered and the addresses for those units are all the same, AWARDS pre-populates the new unit fields with that address. When that happens, only the Apt/Bed field needs to be filled out in order to add a new unit.
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Addresses should not contain commas or semi-colons. Use dashes instead.
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Make changes to an existing residence unit - To do so, make changes to the information for the residence unit in question. For more information on each residence unit field and option, see the Residence Unit Record Fields/Options below.
During the process of making changes to residence units, keep in mind the following:
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Data entry is limited to groups of 50 residence units at once. If there are more than 50 units in the program, it may be necessary to click Update and Open Next Group of Units so that the group containing the unit to be updated is displayed in data entry mode.
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The addresses of currently or previously occupied residence units can only be updated by the Help Desk. Users with the Create Residence Unit permission are limited to updating the gender and smoking information for those units.
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Delete a residence unit that has never been occupied- To do so, enter a Last Available Date that is the same as the First Available Date.
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Close out an existing residence unit that is no longer being used - To do so, in the Last Available Date field of the unit in question, type the last date on which the unit was occupied or available for occupancy (using mm/dd/yy format).
During the process of making changes to residence units, keep in mind the following:
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Data entry is limited to groups of 50 residence units at once. If there are more than 50 units in the program, it may be necessary to click Update and Open Next Group of Units so that the group containing the unit to be closed out is displayed in data entry mode.
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If a unit is currently occupied, the Last Available Date field will have a read-only value of "Occupied." In such cases if the unit must be closed out the client residing in that unit will first need to be moved into another unit or discharged as appropriate.
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If all of the addresses for the existing residence units are the same, AWARDS pre-populates the new unit fields at the bottom of the page with that address. If a new unit is not being entered at this time, delete the First Available Date value from the new unit line.
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Click UPDATE. The residence unit information is saved and the updated Current Residence Units Data Entry page is displayed.
If there are more than 50 residence units in the program and not all units have yet been seen in data entry mode, click Update and Open Next Group of Units rather than UPDATE. At that time the next group of units is displayed, and the data entry process should be repeated beginning with step 4.
To make additional changes to the residence units information, or to add another new residence unit, click DATA ENTRY to return to the Current Residence Units Data Entry page.
The process of maintaining residence units information is now complete.
Residence Unit Record Fields / Options
Below is an alphabetical list of the fields and options located on the Residence Units Data Entry page. To jump directly to the information for a specific field or option, press <Ctrl+F> to access your browser's search feature and enter the name of the field/option in question.
A gear icon 
next to a field or option in this list indicates that it is optional (and therefore not automatically in all AWARDS databases). If you do not see one of these fields/options in your AWARDS database and would like to request that it be turned on, please contact the Help Desk for assistance.
Address
In the Address field, type or make changes to the street address of the residence unit. Do not include commas or semi-colons in addresses; instead, use dashes where separation is needed.
When multiple units are located in the same building, be sure to enter the address exactly the same for each.
Apt/Bed
In the Apt/Bed field, type or make changes to the apartment number/letter of the residence unit.
Availability
Click the Availability drop-down arrow and make a selection to indicate the type of availability for the residence unit. Options include: "Year-Round," "Seasonal," or "Overflow." There is also a blank option. The default selection is "Year-Round."
Bed Type
Click the Bed Type drop-down arrow and make a selection to indicate whether the bed is "Facility-Based," "Voucher," or "Other." There is also a blank option. The default selection is "Facility-Based."
City
In the City field, type or make changes to the city in which the residence unit is located.
Client Location
Click the Client Location drop-down arrow and make a selection to indicate the continuum of care within which clients occupying this residence unit are located. Available selections are those made for the program using Agency Program Information > Add/Edit Entire Program using the Continuum of Care field.
If no Continuum of Care selections have been made for this program, the Client Location drop-down list will be empty.
County
In the County field, type or make changes to the county in which the residence unit is located.
First Available Date
In the First Available Date field, type or make changes to the date on which the residence unit was first available for client occupancy (using mm/dd/yy format). The first available date entered should be on or before the admission date of the first client to have lived in that unit.
If the first available date for a residence unit is more than 30 days ago, you must have the Startup Period Backdating permission.
Gender
Click the Gender drop-down arrow and select the gender of consumers that this residence unit is available to. The default value is "Either." Other available options are "Male" and "Female."
Household Type
Click the Household Type drop-down arrow and make a selection to indicate whether the residence unit is for "Households without children," "Households with at least one adult and one child," or "Households with only children." This option is blank by default.
For apt/beds that share the same Unit ID, the household type selection must also be the same. If different household types are selected for apt/beds with the same Unit ID, an error message is displayed when the page is saved.
Last Available Date
A date should be entered in the Last Available Date field if the corresponding residence unit will no longer be available for occupancy. It can only be filled in if the residence unit is currently unoccupied.
To archive a residence unit that was previously occupied but that is no longer available for use, enter the date of last occupancy in the Last Available Date field. To delete a residence unit that was never occupied, enter a last available date that's the same as the first available date for that unit. For more information see Maintaining Residence Units Information above.
Participates in HMIS
Click the Participates in HMIS drop-down arrow and make a selection to indicate whether the unit is part of the HMIS. Options include: "Yes," "No," and "Unknown." The default selection is "Yes."
SmokeFree
Click the SmokeFree drop-down arrow and indicate whether the residence unit is smoke free. The default value is "Either." Other available options are "Yes" and "No."
State
In the State field, type or make changes to the two letter abbreviation for the state in which the residence unit is located.
Target Population
Click the Target Population drop-down arrow and make a selection to indicate whether the target population is "Chronic Homeless Bed," "Veteran Bed," or "Youth." There is also an "N/A" option, which is the default.
If "Youth Bed" is selected, a corresponding Accepted Youth option is displayed. Selections available in that drop-down include: "Youth age 0 to 18," "Youth age 0 to 24," and "Youth age 18 to 24." The default selection is "Youth age 0 to 18."
Unit ID
In the Unit ID field, type or make changes to the numerical ID for the unit or bed being created. If this field is left blank when creating a new unit, AWARDS automatically assigns the Unit ID to the unit. IDs are assigned sequentially for the entire database.
The Unit ID is a unique identifier for a residential unit. A group of beds comprising one apartment shares a single Unit ID. An apartment with only one bed has its own Unit ID.
Zip
In the Zip field, type or make changes to the zip code of the residence unit.
Residence Units Data Entry Tips
The following are some important tips to keep in mind when entering or updating residence units information. For full step-by-step instructions on the process of entering and maintaining residence units information, see above.
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To add a new unit, enter information in all required fields in the "New Unit" row. (When all units in a program have the same address, that row is pre-populated with the appropriate data and only apt/bed information need be entered.)
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All units in the same building should have their addresses entered in the exact same way.
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Addresses should not contain commas or semi-colons. Use dashes instead.
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When the "New Unit" row is pre-populated with data (because all units in the program have the same address), remove the first available date to make changes to any existing units without also adding a new unit.
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To remove a unit from the program's list of active residences, enter a last available date for that unit. If a unit is currently occupied, that field will have a read-only value of "occupied." In such cases if the unit must be closed out the client residing in that unit will first need to be moved into another unit or discharged as appropriate.
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To delete a previously unoccupied unit entirely, enter a last available date that is the same as the first available date.
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Changes cannot be made to the addresses of currently or previously occupied units, only to their gender and smoking information (when the user has the "Create Residence Unit" permission). In the event that an address change is required, please contact the Help Desk for assistance, being sure to provide all relevant detail (program, old address, and new address).
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Data entry is done in groups of 50 units. When a program has more than 50 units, only the first 50 can initially be edited. To access units other than those in the first 50, click Update until the appropriate units are displayed on the page in data entry mode.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Can a future date be entered for "Last Available Date?"
No, accepted values are today or a date in the past.
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Can we set up more residence units than are indicated by the program's capacity under Add/Edit Entire Program?
The capacity you enter for a program using the System Setup module, Agency Program Information, Add/Edit Entire Program feature does not impact your ability to enter residence units using the System Setup module Residence Units feature. The Residence Units feature will simply note the capacity on the data entry page if it does not match the number of residence units that have been created. It will not, however, prevent you from adding/removing residence units. Keep in mind that the capacity is important for reporting purposes, for example when determining vacancy percentages, so it is best to have it match the number of units you have.
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Does the Residence Units field on the System Setup > Agency Program Info > Add/Edit Entire Program feature get updated automatically?
No, this information must be manually updated. To ensure correct occupancy numbers for programs that place families in apartments with varying numbers of beds in each, the Projected # of Units field should contain the number of unique unit IDs entered in the System Setup > Residence Units feature.
This does not take into account any overflow units that may be in use by a program; those should not be included in a program's occupancy under System Setup.
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How do I correct a mistake in the address of an occupied residence unit?
In the event that an address correction is required for a residence unit that is currently occupied, or has been occupied in the past, that change must be made by the Help Desk. Be sure to provide them with the details of the existing residence unit and what specific changes must be made.
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How do I delete a residence unit that has never been occupied?
To delete a residence unit that has never been occupied, follow the procedures under Maintaining Residence Units Information above, and enter a last available date that is the same as the first available date and update.
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How do I remove a residence unit that is no longer in use?
Residence units can only be removed if they are unoccupied. To remove an unoccupied residence unit (that has been occupied in the past), follow the procedures under Maintaining Residence Units Information above, and enter a last available date for it.
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How do I update agency housing records to show an occupied unit has been relocated?
When an occupied unit is relocated, housing records will need to be updated to reflect the change. In order to maintain a historical record of the actual addresses the client occupied, you will need to create the new unit, swap the occupant of the old unit to the new unit, and then enter a last available date for the unit that is no longer occupied.
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How should we assign Unit IDs when the unit is shared by roommates who are not part of the same family? Should we count them as household members?
Each program must decide how they would like to reflect households; but typically, households are considered related family members. If you have non-related roommates each using one bed in the same residence unit, you can opt to have those two beds share the same Unit ID, without having to link the clients together in a household. If your program is set up to calculate occupancy based on bed counts (not apartment/unit counts) or is a HUD program, the two beds in this case should have unique Unit IDs.
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If multiple singles are occupying a single house/apartment/unit, do all of the beds in that unit still need to share a Unit ID?
No, if your program is set up to calculate occupancy based on bed counts, each bed should have its own unique Unit ID. This applies to a program that houses singles, even if they happen to have a roommate or housemate.
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Is there a limit to the number of residence units that can be entered for a residential program?
No. There is no limit to the number of residence units you can create for a program, though you can only entered 50 at a time.
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One large family is currently taking up more than one apartment/unit. Should the beds in those apartments/units share a Unit ID?
There is no restriction in AWARDS that requires household members to be placed in beds of the same Unit ID, and in this case Foothold recommends leaving the units configured as they exist (with unique Unit IDs) and not as they are occupied. If you have questions about a specific housing scenario and house Unit IDs should be assigned, please the Help Desk.
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What are the rules for entering residence units?
When entering residence units keep in mind the following:
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Addresses should not contain commas or semi-colons. Use dashes instead.
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If the first available date for a residence unit is more than 30 days ago, you must have the "Start Period Backdating" permission.
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What do I do if the residence unit I want to change or close out is read-only in data entry mode?
In programs with more than 50 residence units, data entry is done in groups of 50 units. If the residence unit you need to update is displayed on the page but is read-only, click the Update and Show Next 50 button to display the next group of units in data entry mode.
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What does the error "backdated first available date requires 'startup' permit" error mean when entering a residence unit?
This error is an indication that the first available date for the residence unit you are entering is more than 30 days in the past. In order to enter such residence units, you must have the "Startup Period Backdating" permission.
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What is the difference between Unit ID numbers and Household ID numbers, and how are each assigned?
Household IDs are assigned sequentially for the entire database at the time the household is created, either by admitting a new client and creating a new household for him, or during the conversion process. Household IDs are the ID numbers used to identify the household group on reports.
Unit IDs are also assigned sequentially for the entire database at the time a new bed is created in System Setup > Residence Units. Each group of beds representing one apartment should share a Unit ID. Unit IDs are not tied to client records, and AWARDS does not cross-check to ensure household members are placed in a matching set of beds.
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