If it's one of your regulars then you should be able to get them online. If it's someone you have not seen in a while you can kick them and their stuff will end up at an NPC in the wards.
It's basically a failsafe to keep peoples hard earned items from all vanishing. I don't think anyone has tried to do housing in the manner they are attempting which is basically unsustainable on some servers and they are just patching it together till they figured out a more streamlined process.