Critical Conversations: NRTA 2025 Addresses Responsible Approaches to Homelessness and Property Safety in Commercial Real Estate

Key Takeaways

• Homelessness and vandalism are distinct issues. Retailers should differentiate between lawful, non-threatening presence and conduct that warrants security or law enforcement involvement, such as vandalism, theft, or safety threats.
• Proactive planning reduces risk. Clear staff protocols, defined security contacts, and pre-established relationships with local non-emergency and community resources are essential to effective response.
• Leases, training, and design matter. Well-drafted lease provisions, coordinated security roles, staff de-escalation training, and thoughtful property design help manage issues lawfully, safely, and compassionately.

When facing concerns related to individuals experiencing homelessness or (separate but, with occasional overlap) vandalism, retail location operators often find themselves on the front lines of store safety, customer experience, and compassionate community care. These issues affect many of our operating and non-operating locations nationwide, yet retailers and owners may feel like they’re winging it when it comes to protocols for handling these situations. While we found no easy answers, our panel at NRTA 2025 on “Vandalism and the Unhoused: Best Practices” for commercial tenants, landlords, and owners sought to share real solutions.

The Conversation

• Sherri Hester of Dollar General, offering wisdom from years of on-site location management.
• Marc Insul of Commercial Asset Preservation, covering physical security and deterrent options, particularly for after-hours or decommissioned real estate.
• Teresa Jones of Central Florida Code Enforcement, speaking to the importance of building local law and code enforcement connections for in-store staff, tenants, and landlords.
• Caroline Magee of AGG Retail Real Estate practice, on lease language and landlord/tenant shared responsibilities.
• Brian Postlewait, local leader of both the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida and Florida’s statewide coalition to end homelessness, on creating partnerships with community nonprofits — we are all in this together.

Highlights

Vandalism and homelessness are not the same issue, and people experiencing homelessness are not a threat in all cases. Everyone from store staff to building owners seems to know this, and are seeking nuanced guidance on how to handle different situations as they arise.

Sometimes 911 is the right call. What is worth a police call: theft, vandalism, harassment or threatening behavior, trespassing after a warning, or genuine safety threats (to others or to the individual themselves).

But what about non-emergency matters that are affecting customer or staff experience? Being homeless, by itself, isn’t illegal. So, who to call?

Make sure retail staff has contact information for the on-site security provider (if any). Landlords, ask the security provider to provide you with specific steps for how that provider handles unhoused persons in a range of behavior situations, from sleeping to aggressive behaviors.

Community hotlines and resources. Run a web or AI-assisted search for specific 911 alternatives in your property’s location. Build relationships early, so you can reach these organizations easily when you need them. Look for:

• Hotlines/rapid response numbers
• Encampment reporting
• Partnerships with services agencies and/or law enforcement
• Local economic development organizations that have a vested interest in addressing situations of homelessness and vagrancy matters
  • Examples include Atlanta’s Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative; Jacksonville, Florida’s PATH team; the Houston, Texas Homeless Outreach Team (HOT); and Phoenix, Arizona’s PDX C.A.R.E.S. hotline.

Know your local community organization neighbors. Postlewait’s advice was simple but powerful: get to know the homeless service providers, business development folks, and advocacy organizations in your markets before you have a problem, not after.

Design matters. Better lighting. Strategic planters. Benches with armrests. Insul reminded everyone that thoughtful environmental design prevents issues without making your property look like a fortress.

Lease language? Leases may indicate that landlords have a right to manage access to the property and remove persons who, in landlord’s judgment, are (for example) overly intoxicated or under the influence of drugs. In jurisdictions where only the property owner, not the tenant or operator, can legally request removal of a person from the property, consider including lease language stating that the landlord will reasonably cooperate with tenant in requesting removal, and make sure the landlord has provided a contact person for such a situation. For vandalism, the lease may allocate security responsibilities and costs of security-incident-related damage. Tenants should be aware of what security landlord is or is not providing, and design its own security to fill the gaps.

Listen to your security teams. As asset managers will tell you, private security regularly deals with nonviolent but aggressive behaviors, such as spitting and verbal attacks. Communicate with your security teams about how they de-escalate these occurrences. Understanding their protocols helps landlords, tenants, and operators anticipate the process for various situations. If you have a relationship with a community organization as described here, consider linking the security team with that organization for designing approaches.

Train your people. People tend to be compassionate, and situations with unhoused or otherwise struggling persons are challenging for staff who are not social workers and are trying to run a business. Give frontline staff actual scripts, such as:

• “I’m sorry, this is private property and we need to ask you to leave.” Your location may have a policy that operators can provide a cup of water or another preplanned response.
• “It’s our store policy. I understand this is difficult, but I do need to ask you to go.”
• If disruptive behavior: “I need to ask you to leave the store now. If you continue [sleeping/blocking the entrance/bothering customers], I’ll need to call for assistance.”
• Or refusal to leave: “I’ve asked you to leave and you’re now trespassing. I’m going to call [security/the police/management] now.”

And yes, establish code words to use with the asset manager or security when things go sideways.

If you have a relationship with local code enforcement, a 911-alternative provider, or community organization that provides rapid response, include those numbers in your staff protocol.

Everyone is doing the best they can, and real estate develops communities in all kinds of ways. Empathy abounded in the room during this discussion. None of this is easy and, for real estate owners and operators, difficult lines will need to be drawn. But if we zoom out, real estate and retail are naturally influential partners with community development and advocacy organizations to guide both growth and approaches to community concerns.