New Albany Housing Authority Improves Security

The New Albany (Indiana) Housing Authority (NAHA) has deployed Brivo ACS WebService in its three high-rise residence buildings, providing enhanced security for more than 330 housing units. Logical Innovations is the integrator for this ongoing installation.

On any given day, there are more than 700 residents, staff, and guests passing through the doors to the three residential high-rise buildings at NAHA’s federally subsidized housing development. Prior to installing the Brivo ACS WebService solution, NAHA employed a touch key access system, but that system was cumbersome and extremely inefficient. “We experience a sizable amount of resident turnover at our buildings,” said Bob Lane, NAHA Executive Director, “and every time we wanted to update our resident lists, we had to literally take a laptop to each building door to perform the operation. We wasted a lot of time and effort. We knew there had to be a better system to meet our needs.”

Logical Innovations provided Lane and his staff with a live demonstration of the

ACS WebService, “We quickly determined our system was grossly out of date and discovered the Brivo system was two to three generations past what we were using. Since implementing Brivo, the transition has been seamless—we have not received any complaints from our residents or our staff. The new Brivo system is wonderful.”

The NAHA has residents who range in age from 18 up to 100 in its high-rise buildings. Each building caters to a slightly different age population with many elderly, independently living, residents. “One of the buildings is close to the Ohio River and is also near a busy interstate highway. Safety is a major concern for many of our older residents and so is convenience,” said Lane. “If you’re coming home with an armful of groceries, have a walker, or are in a wheelchair, this system is so much easier for our residents to operate.”

The new Brivo ACS Webservice provides an audit trail of all entrances and exits; NAHA staff can now update and manage the system remotely; and it is integrated with Speco DVRs to provide video images to complement the powerful access control solution. Lane continued, “Not only is the Brivo system much more efficient, our residents feel safer in their homes. Relatives of our residents tell us they feel the buildings are safer for their family members.”

Recently, the federal government issued new asset management rules that have forced housing authorities to manage operations more closely and to become even more innovative in using limited resources to accomplish goals. “With the Brivo system, we have safer homes and we have increased the producitivity of our staff. I would highly recommend the Brivo system; it’s an economically sound product no matter where it is installed. We were looking for the very best solution for our budget. We looked at a couple of other options, but they did not measure up in terms of cost or performance. For the New Albany Housing Authority, Brivo has been a wonderful addition to our operations, it will be more cost effective for us compared to anything else we have seen,” Lane concluded.