The safety and well being of community members is highly important to your HOA. Associations should take every measure possible to adhere to all procedures and policies that keep communities safe.
Every association wants to make sure that the best quality services are being provided to the residents to ensure maximum protection for them. The safety and security of the homeowners’ community is in the hands of the HOA or the management company.
If your HOA is being managed by a management company there are procedures in place for the prevention of unplanned accidents on the property as well as procedures on how to respond to accidents, fires, adverse weather conditions and other unforeseen situations that may arise.
Here are some tips to follow to ensure the safety of the community:
- Develop a safety and security policy.In it, create a process for an annual review of current and new security systems. Determine what types of security measures you’ll include and the budget you’ll dedicate to maintaining them.
- Create a safety committee.This group should be responsible for regularly walking the property to identity possible security issues—lights that need replacing, hedges that need trimming, doors or gates that don’t close properly and so on.
- Establish relationships with local law enforcement.Invite police officers who patrol your area to come speak at board meetings. Identify a community liaison within the police department as your main point of contact for security issues, and check in occasionally. You don’t want your first contact with law enforcement to be the result of an incident.
- Meet your neighbors.Developing a sense of community helps everyone. Neighbors on friendly terms are more likely to watch out for one another, report suspicious activity and be more aware of what’s going on in their community. Plan community events where neighbors can get to know one another.
- Remind homeowners about security.Publish a monthly safety tip in your homeowners association publication. Display crime statistics of your community in a common area. Talk about policies meant to keep your community safe, such as not providing door codes to others, keeping gates shut and not allowing strangers through security measures.
When it comes to the safety and security of your residents, don’t take any chances. As a property manager or community association leader, you must do everything you can to ensure that your residents are, and feel, safe in their homes. Assess your needs and develop your safety plan to match your area and the residents in it. Safe residents are happy residents and happy residents make for a great community, so get serious about safety.