How can Costa Mesa businesses deal with homeless? Seminar offers advice

For Costa Mesa businesses looking to tackle issues with the homeless or stave off potential problems, the key is knowledge and planning.

Those were two of the takeaways from Thursday’s “A Business Perspective on Homelessness,” a seminar organized by Janet Lee Krochman, a local resident and certified public accountant, and Fresh Beginnings Ministries, an Orange County faith-based nonprofit.

Krochman said the goal of the event was to empower businesses to deal with problems related to homelessness, such as trespassing, littering, drug use and other illicit activities.

“The issue of homelessness has been with us quite awhile and will never go away,” she told an audience of about 50 people at the Halecrest Park clubhouse. “However, there are tools available to the business community that will assist you in managing the impact on your business in terms of your employees, your customers and your property.”

Business owners should develop procedures for interacting with homeless people, said Bill Nelson of Fresh Beginnings Ministries.

It’s important not to be angry or confrontational, he said. He suggested the best way to turn down requests for aid or accommodations is, “I am unable to do that.”

“Any time you’re not able to do something, they’re not going to argue with you,” he said. “Most of the time they’re very compliant.”

Nelson emphasized, though, that business owners and employees should never hesitate to call authorities if they feel threatened or witness a crime.

Mike Brumbaugh, a code enforcement officer for the city of Costa Mesa, suggested businesses look at the layout of their locations to make them less attractive for the homeless to frequent.

Adding lights, removing landscaping and securing external power or water sources can be deterrents, according to Brumbaugh.

He added that businesses should install signs against trespassing, soliciting or loitering.

“I look at this as a community partnership,” he said. “It’s not you, it’s not me, it’s not the police, it’s not one entity; it’s all of us. We have to think outside the box.”

Nelson said it’s important to keep in mind that there’s a substantial difference between “someone experiencing homelessness and a street person trying to scam you” and that business owners and employees should try to learn who’s who.

For instance, a “street person” often will refuse offers of food or water and insist on money, he said.

A person experiencing homelessness, on the other hand, might be non-threatening and non-intrusive, asking only for a place to sit and rest. Such a person might be receptive to services offered in the city, Nelson said.

Nelson and Brumbaugh said many local resources are available, including Costa Mesa’s Network for Homeless Solutions, a collaborative effort among city staff, local churches, nonprofits, private organizations and volunteers.

Information about that and other services and organizations is available on the city’s website at costamesaca.gov/index.aspx?page=1850.

“The most successful way to get people to move on, to be not on your property, to be not disruptive to your business, is for somebody to find their story,” Nelson said. “If we can find out their story, we can find out what they really need, and the basic thing then is to help them remember who they were before they became who they are. We want them to go back to that point of hope.”

Krochman said the organizers hope Thursday’s seminar will be the first in a series for the business community. Details about future events are not final.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoney