Managing an HOA is tough, and when residents aren’t engaged, or feel hostile to the board, it gets harder.

Creating a good relationship between neighbors can make resolving issues in your community easier, as well as making the conversation around those problems better. It’s really important that the board, with the support of the community association manager, look for ways that residents can get engaged in running the community.

In this article, we’re going to be showing you just how important it is to engage your residents in your your HOA or condo association.

Why it’s beneficial for residents to be engaged

Residents are key to managing community associations. Since the board is made of resident volunteers, and HOA members need to vote for new board members. So residents need to know what’s going on in your HOA, and be engaged with it. It’s also important for residents to know what’s going on so that they feel part of the community.

How to get residents to be more engaged

Residents might not be engaged with the community association because they’re not interest, they don’t have enough time or they might not know that they can be involved. There are a few things that the board can do encourage residents to be more engaged.

1 – Transparent management

The more transparent community association managers and boards are with residents, the more that HOA members are likely to trust and want to be part of the board. So all documents that you can make available, definitely do. These should include all meeting agendas and minutes, governing documents and CC&Rs. They should also include financial information, as it is important for homeowners to know what their dues are spent on.

The state of Florida implemented the Florida Condo Website Law to improve transparency in community associations by having a website and certain documents available on there. By having transparent management, residents will feel more involved.

2 – Engage residents by improving communication

By communicating with residents regularly, the board shows them that they care about being transparent and engaging witht them. Using different communication tools, you can improve your communication in your HOA. By using several tools to communicate with residents, you increase the number of residents who engage with the board and HOA. So you can try sending emails, texts, surveys and posting on your HOA’s website.

3 – Engage residents by holding regular meetings

Meetings may need to be canceled, but that’s no excuse to not have a regular meeting on the community’s calendar. Especially if the meeting is always on the same day, same time and same place it should help reduce the number of no-shows. The let residents know in advance and send them a couple of reminders, this helps them to set aside time and show up. Meetings are a great opportunity to engage the residents.

You should have the option for people to participate virtually. Online meetings allow more people to participate and also lets you record the meeting to be viewed later. 

4 – Do community events

One way to engage residents is to have community events, which encourage them to show up and participate. You could have an events committee, made up of volunteers who help organize different events. Having bingo nights, or potluck dinners or different seasonal events for residents is a relaxed, fun way to get people involved.

It’s important that you communicate that these events are happening by sending an email, posting on your website or including them in your newsletter.

5 – Invest in management software

HOA Software is becoming more and more popular for management. There are so many benefits to using it, and it can help with all the tips that we’ve given you above.

Here are some more benefits to using software designed for community associations:

• Optimizes your work
• Automizes processes
• Quick access to documents
• Security for your community’s data and information
• Easy sharing of relevant information with all parties
• Reduces costs
• Decision making becomes easier

For residents, having software that allows them to find information and documents easily, talk to residents, the board and their manager is hugely beneficial. If you have amenities and allow residents to submit maintenance requests, HOA software also makes that easier. That way residents can be involved in their community, even on the go.

Conclusion to engage residents in your HOA

Communicating and being transparent with residents are very important parts of the board’s role in an HOA. By being open, having regular meetings and community events you help to engage residents in community life.

Having software that makes communication easier will help the board and manager to keep residents in the loop, as well as save them time. Neigbrs by Vinteum works with community associations across North America to improve their communication, management and to improve resident engagement. To learn more about how Neigbrs by Vinteum can help you help your community, schedule a free demo today.