Tacoma Housing Authority has moved to RENTCafe
RENTCafe is a nationwide payments and services platform used by many organizations, making it easy to see all your Housing Authorities payments in one place.
Tacoma Housing Authority is using RentCafe to power our new online service portal, which you can use to view your ledger, unit inspection results, and tenant Housing Specialist information, as well as update your contact information.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I register?
THA is switching our major software system, including payments, to the Yardi system, and RENTCafe provides the portal that property managers and owners can use to access their payment information from the Yardi software.
Who needs to register?
If you receive direct payments for rental assistance from Tacoma Housing Authority, you need to register an account in the portal.
If you are an owner of a property, but have a property management company that receives payment on your behalf, you do not need to register.
If you are looking for an opportunity to lease up a unit with a THA client, but do not currently have an approved applicant for your unit, you do not need to register. Registration information will be sent to you as a new owner/payee when you start working with a THA client.
What do I need in order to register?
For most, registration should be simple. You will just need your general business information, along with a registration code and your tax ID number (TIN).
Registration Code
THA has sent out a letter that includes your registration code to the mailing address we have on file, as well as the primary email address associated with your account.
If you don’t remember the email address that was on file or don’t have access to the email account, reach out to us at the Housing Provider Contact Form to receive a copy of your letter.
Tax ID Number
Our database uses the TIN that we have on file associated with your account. If your business has updated its TIN since you created your account with THA, you will need to refer back to your original TIN when you register for the portal.
Similarly, if an owner’s Social Security number was used to open an account with THA, but you now have a LLC with a business TIN, you will need to enter the original SSN used upon creation of the account.
Error Message: “you already have an existing account tied to your email address”
I got this pop-up. What does it mean?
This pop-up means that you are already enrolled in RENTCafe and will need to log in to your existing account and simply add your THA registration code to the existing account.
How do I know where to access my existing account?
The pop-up should state your existing account. If not, find out which Housing Authority your business already receives payment from. This will most likely be your existing account.
What if our property management company uses RENTCafe for our housing portfolio?
If your company email address is already associated with RENTCafe for a different account, you will need to either:
- Use a different email address for your THA account; or
- Add “+th“ to your email address.
Example: Change janedoe@housingprovider.com to janedoe+th@housingprovider.com. Message will still be sent to the same email account, but RENTCafe will accept it as a unique email address.
How do I add the THA registration code to my existing account?
There are two ways to add the THA Registration code to your existing account. Let‘s go over both.
Option 1
Log into your existing account.
- Example: Pierce County Housing Authority
On your home page, you will see a grid of tiles. On the first row you will see a tile that says, “Register with Another Agency.”
Select this tile and add your THA code.
Option 2
On the error pop-up message, Select the “Use my existing account” button.
Use the login information for your existing account. If you forgot password to the existing account, select the “forgot password” link to reset it.
I added my THA registration code and completed the information, where did my other account go?
Once you enter the information for your THA account, you’ll be taken to your new Tacoma Housing Authority dashboard. Congratulations, your registration is complete!
You can now see all your housing authorities payments on one site. To switch between your accounts, use the dropdown menu on your dashboard.
Error message: “One or more of the details you entered does not match our records”
I got this pop-up. What does it mean?
This pop-up means that the Tax ID Number (TIN) that you entered does not match what THA has on record.
There are a few cases in which your TIN might not match our records:
- During the conversion, existing accounts were transferred over to Yardi with the TIN associated with the account. This means that whatever TIN was sent in to create your original account is what we are using.
- For property management companies: Your business may use several TIN’s and the original staff creating the payee account sent a different TIN. Your business might have expanded or changed owners and your TIN has been updated. Either way, if your business has updated the TIN since you created your account with THA, you will need to refer back to your original TIN upon creation of the account.
- For private owners/small businesses: Similarly to a property management company, if an owner’s SSN was used to open an account with THA, but you now have a LLC with a business TIN, you will need to enter the original SSN used upon creation of the account.
Double check your records to see if there are other possible TINs that could have been used and try those.