HOA security is an important topic in community associations, as homeowners need to feel safe in their community. Here are 8 ideas to improve safety in your homeowners association.

Why is HOA Security important?

Every HOA should address security in its rules and regulations and other applicable documents. Specific directions on overgrown landscaping, dark areas, and unlocked gates should be provided to owners.

It should be a priority for everyone in the community to keep it safe. While individual homeowners are responsible for their own losses, if any criminal activity occurs in a common area, it becomes everyone’s problem. If your community becomes known for having an unusually high level of crime, that will deter buyers and pose problems for those wanting to sell their homes. 

Safety Committee

A good first step to improve safety in your community association would be to create a security committee. That way, you can discuss what security measures the HOA should take. This committee will be responsible for identifying needs and stipulating the necessary measures to keep residents feeling safe and secure.

They can analyze what’s missing, work with the finance committee to see what would fit into the budget and take steps to make the HOA a safer place.

Neighborhood Watch

If there is a group of residents who are concerned about safety, you could create or join Neighborhood Watch program. That way, if you see anything or anyone suspicious, you can let the rest of the community know by posting in Neigbrs by Vinteum or whatever social network that your community uses.

This a really great way to improve safety, as residents know their neighborhood well, and can help with some of the ideas below.

Landscaping

Landscaping is an important part of safety, as if there are overgrown hedges, people can hide in them. Trees can also be used to climb to a window and break in, so definitely do consider landscaping in your security plan.

Talk to the landscaping committee, or company to make sure the landscaping aspects of the HOA are used to improve privacy and security, not to hinder it.

HOA Security System

Installing security cameras, or improving the HOA security that you currently have is a solution to improve safety. Before you do this, it’s important to identify where cameras should be so that they cover all common areas, and don’t leave blind spots. Before deciding to install CCTV, you should check that they fit in the budget, as they are not cheap.

As well as cameras, you could also analyze the possibility of adding alarms in the HOA, especially in amenities. That way, you can protect the clubhouse, gym, and office if you have one.

Monitor HOA Security Cameras

As well as having a security system, you need to monitor and maintain your security system regularly. A security guard, someone on the security committee or a board member could do this. That way, someone is watching the footage and can alert the police quickly if something does happen.

Cameras are only effective if what they record is watched, and there are consequences, if not, people will realize that they’re only for show.

Lights

It’s important to keep the HOA well-lit to improve safety at night. Ideally, a board member or community association manager would inspect the lights regularly. However, you can also leverage residents, with a service request tool in an HOA software. So residents can post if they see a light that doesn’t work anymore. Then, the request is automatically routed to the right person.

Talk to residents

You can also inspect the HOA to make sure that it is well-lit enough at night. If you do that, talk to residents to see how they feel about walking in the HOA at night. Doing a survey of the HOA may be a good idea to get a better understanding of how people feel about their safety in the community.

Educate Residents

A critical step in keeping HOA safe is to involve residents and homeowners and teach them that safety is everyone’s priority.

This engagement will help to teach and educate these people about the importance of being attentive and committed to the security measures established by the HOA board. Getting residents involved in the community will give them a sense that it belongs to them and feel proud of it. 

Send emergency contacts

One way to do that is to send out regular emails or automated smart calls out to residents reminding them of security steps. These could include reminding them to ask a neighbor to keep an eye on their home when they’re on vacation and to always lock up. You can also share the numbers for emergency and non-emergency contacts in the area.

Professional Services

If the HOA has the resources, one option is to look into a professional security company. You should analyze exactly what you need, do you need one guard by the gate or a few who do patrols of the neighborhood? Then think about for how long, just at night or 24/7?

Another important aspect of hiring professional security is to whether they should be armed or unarmed. If they’re armed, and the guard fires accidentally or is negiligent, the HOA could be involved in a serious lawsuit.

 Conclusion to HOA Security

Security in your HOA is very important to ensure residents’ wellbeing and peace of mind. These 8 ideas cover HOAs with varying budgets and manpower.

In a small community, regular emails, good landscaping and a neighborhood watch may be more than enough. In a large HOA, cameras, alarms and security professionals become possible and necessary.

Understanding how residents feel about the safety in their community is also important, and Neigbrs by Vinteum can help you communicate with them and get their opinion.