Unlocking Independence: How Hudson Community Living Built a Dignified, Keyless Community
True accessibility in supportive housing extends far beyond ramps, grab bars, and wide hallways—it begins at the front entrance. For Hudson Community Living, an Ohio nonprofit community designed for adults with developmental disabilities, traditional physical keys were an ongoing obstacle to self-reliance.
Hudson Community Living operates 16 residential units supporting 32 residents, alongside shared communal and administrative spaces. From its inception, the property was designed around accessibility. However, conventional locks posed daily operational roadblocks:
Resident Accessibility Hurdles: Many residents have limited fine motor skills, making grasping and turning small brass keys difficult. At the same time, remembering numeric PIN codes caused unnecessary frustration and stress.
Caregiver Turnover Logistics: Routine staffing transitions meant management constantly had to collect physical keys or pay to rekey tumblers to ensure perimeter security.
After-Hours Vulnerability: When residents required access assistance late at night, staff had to travel to the facility in person to unlock doors manually.
To further their mission, leadership required an access system that granted residents dignified independence while relieving staff of mechanical key overhead.
The Challenge: Physical Keys as a Barrier to Autonomy
The Solution: 100% Managed Access in 30 Days
Hudson upgraded the community using Lockly Visage Zeno Series deadbolts across all 16 living units, conference rooms, and administrative offices. The rollout was completed in just one month, moving the facility to 100% managed smart access.
Tailored specifically for commercial and multifamily environments, Lockly Visage introduced advanced access features designed to support both residents and property managers:
Hands-Free Facial Recognition: Radar-assisted proximity unlocking and advanced facial recognition unlock doors in under one second. With 3D Live Skin detection to prevent imposters, this offers seamless, hands-free entry that removes the physical friction of mechanical keys and the cognitive strain of remembering codes.
3D Biometric Fingerprint Scanning: An integrated 3D biometric fingerprint sensor utilizes AI learning to enhance security and streamline entry, offering an immediate, intuitive single-touch alternative for daily access.
Apple Home Key & Smart Assistant Integration: Support for Apple Home Keys allows unlocking directly via an iPhone or Apple Watch. The system also integrates with Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa for flexible voice and mobile control.
Centralized Wi-Fi Access Management: Built-in Wi-Fi and the Lockly app provide comprehensive, reliable access control across large-scale properties, allowing property managers to grant, adjust, or revoke digital credentials for visiting families, therapists, and rotating caregivers in seconds.
The operational metrics are backed by meaningful human stories. Prior to the installation, one Hudson resident suffered from severe anxiety around unlocking his door. Because limited dexterity made a single finger scan inconsistent at times, the Hudson team used Lockly's flexibility to register all ten of his fingerprints into the lock and configured a remote-unlock safety net through the staff app.
Real Impact: Transforming Everyday Dignity
"The ability for residents to have autonomy and self-direction is truly so beneficial and helps us further our mission."
— Megan Howie, Community Director, Hudson Community Living
Knowing that access is always guaranteed removed the resident's daily anxiety and built his self-confidence.
"We can add or remove someone's access immediately. You don't have to change the keys or do anything complicated."
— Hudson Community Living Management Team
Administrative friction was solved simultaneously:
Operator Blueprint: Smart Property Management Takeaways
Hudson’s deployment offers actionable strategies for supportive living directors, affordable housing providers, and multifamily property managers:
Build Accessibility Redundancy: Never rely on a single input method. Combine 3D biometric fingerprint scanners with cloud-managed remote unlocking so tenants with motor or cognitive limitations are never locked out.
Shift from Rekeying to Dynamic Permissions: Turn staff turnover from an ongoing locksmith expense into an instant 10-second digital credential revocation in LocklyOS.
Automate Perimeter Audits: Replace manual late-night door sweeps with automated portal door-status checks, instant open-door alerts, and centralized activity logs.
Unlike residential consumer smart locks that stitch together third-party software with outsourced hardware, LocklyPRO delivers a unified, commercial-grade ecosystem. LocklyPRO is the only vertically integrated IoT access provider that manages industrial hardware design, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, cloud software (LocklyOS), and technical support entirely in-house.
The LocklyPRO Difference: True Vertical Integration
"Having dedicated in-house pro support experts for implementation and ongoing management gives us great peace of mind. To date, we have only needed support once, and it was excellent. The issue was resolved quickly with a replacement unit."
— Megan Howie, Community Director, Hudson Community Living
Hudson Community Living is now actively sharing this operational framework with other organizations looking to modernize supportive housing across the country. By removing the barriers of traditional keys, properties can elevate both operational efficiency and personal independence.
Experience the future of access control for your project!
Phone
Help me choose