Enter and Update Counselors and Staff for HUD Reporting
Table of Contents
Counselors, Instructors, and Support Staff who need to be reported to HUD, are entered as Agency Contacts in HomeKeeper. Below, you will find instructions on who to add, and what information to enter for your staff.
WARNING: Creating an Agency Contact DOES NOT create a Salesforce User or give your counselors access to HomeKeeper. It allows you to designate Certified Counselors overseeing Counseling sessions and Group Sessions for HUD Reporting.
See the User Management knowledge article for instructions on adding and updating users for Salesforce and HomeKeeper.
Navigate to the Agency Record and Add Agency Contact from the Agency Contact Related List
- Click into the Agency Object, and select your Agency record
- Select the “New" button on the Agency Contact Related List
- Creating the Agency Contact from here will automatically relate it to your Agency
Who to Add
While all staff can be added as Agency Contacts, it is not necessary to add all staff for HUD Reporting. Those required for HUD Reporting are:
- Counselors
- Group Session Instructors (for HUD Reportable Group Sessions)
- Staff reported as HUD Contacts:
- Primary HUD Contact
- Office Executive
- Office Manager
Add Your Counselors and Group Session Instructors
In order for a Counselor to be assigned Counseling cases or Group Sessions, they must have an Agency Contact record. In order to report them and their cases to HUD, you will need to fill out all HUD-required fields for them as well, including:
- Certified Counselor HUD ID
- If left blank, you will not be able to check “Report to HUD” on Counseling/Education records assigned to the counselor, or report them to HUD as a counselor.
- HUD Certified Date
- Employment Start Date
- Languages they speak, and what
- Types of HUD counseling services they can provide
Once entered, be sure to check off the “Report to HUD as Counselor” Box!
After you have created and saved an Agency Contact, you can track their upcoming and past sessions, workload, time spent counseling, and more under the Counselor Stats Section.
For Non-HUD Certified Counselors and Instructors
If a Group Session instructor is not HUD Certified: You can still report Group Sessions to HUD if they are assigned to a Non-Certified Housing Counselor.
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Type N/A in the “Certified Counselor HUD ID” field
- This is an acceptable value for Agency Contact records as long as they are only assigned to Group Sessions, and not to HUD-reportable 1-1 Counseling Clients.
- They can also be assigned to Log Items, but there must be a certified counselor assigned to the Counseling/Education record for 1-1 counseling.
If the Counselor has not yet received their certification: Again, you can still assign them to Group Sessions and Log Items, but a certified counselor must be assigned to the overall 1-1 Counseling/Education record. They should be the counselor overseeing the case in order to report the case to HUD.
- Type N/A under "Certified Counselor HUD ID"
- OR leave you can leave "Certified Counselor HUD Id" and “Report to HUD as Counselor” blank.
- If they are assigned to 1-1 Counseling/Education records, do not check off “Report to HUD” until the counselor is certified.
Designate HUD Contacts
- For any staff being reported as HUD Contacts, use the "HUD Contact Type" field to select what role(s) they serve.
- In order to report these Agency Contacts to HUD, check "Current HUD Contact"
NOTE: Not sure who to report? Best practices for listing HUD Contact Type depend on your organization's size and structure. You clarify questions with your HUD point of contact.
Check that HUD Fields are Complete using HUD Helper Fields
Before reporting to HUD, double-check that all required fields are complete for your Agency Contacts.
- For HUD-Reported Counselors, use the “Fields for HUD Counselor Complete” and “HUD Counselor Corrections Needed” fields.
- For HUD Contacts, use the “Fields for HUD Contact Complete” and “HUD Contact Corrections Needed” fields.
Updating Agency Contacts When Staff Turn Over
When a Counselor Leaves
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Change the counselor assigned to all of their Open Counseling/Education records and reassign them to the counselor who will be taking over that case. You can use List Views and Reports to update multiple records at the same time, without navigating to each Counseling/Education record. See this knowledge article for details: Mass Editing with List Views and Reports
NOTE: There is no need to re-assign closed Counseling/Education records or Log Items. You can still report the Counselor's activities in the current HUD Fiscal Year.
The counselor assigned to individual Log Items is not reported, and can help you track who had specific conversations with clients.
- Change the “Status” of their Agency Contact record to “Former”
- Add the “Employment End Date”
- At the end of the current HUD Fiscal Year (or the year that the counselor left), uncheck “Report to HUD as Counselor.”
When a HUD Contact Leaves
- Navigate to the Agency Contact record
- Uncheck “Current HUD Contact”
- Change “Status” to “Former”
- Enter “Employment End Date”
- Be sure to designate a new HUD Contact
"Agency Contact" as the Housing Counselor's Home Page
From their Agency Contact page, counselors can track:
- How many Counseling/Education records do I have?
- Are my Counseling Education records Open or Closed?
- What Counselor Trainings have I attended, and did I receive a certificate?
- What Group Sessions (classes) are coming up?
View your clients who have not had communication in a while:
The field “Days Since Last Logged Item” is there for you to show you how long it's been since you logged a session with your client. You can:
- Navigate to the Counseling/Education Related List on your Agency Contact record
- Sort by “Days Since Last Logged Item”
Assess workload in the Counselor Stats section:
The "Counselor Stats" section auto-populates with the number of open and closed 1-1 Counseling and Group Sessions that each counselor is responsible for. View these from the record, or add them to reports, to track workload.
