Manatee County, FL Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Article IX of Chapter 2-21, Safe, Unobstructed Access to Public Buildings, targets encampment-style behavior at a defined list of Manatee County and City of Bradenton facilities, including the Historic Courthouse, the Judicial Center, the county administration building, sheriff's district offices, the jail, the tax collector's and property appraiser's offices, the main library and Bradenton City Hall, per the definitions in Sec. 2-21-121. Sec. 2-21-122 makes six things unlawful there: lodging or remaining in a way that blocks ingress, egress or a fire escape route; erecting a temporary shelter, makeshift dwelling or campsite; obstructing pedestrian traffic to or from the buildings outside legitimate government business; intentionally storing personal property unattended outside the buildings or in their foyers, corridors or restrooms; urinating or defecating anywhere but a designated restroom; and dumping trash outside a designated receptacle.

"To lodge," under Sec. 2-21-121(a)(5), means using a site as temporary habitation for several continuous hours or overnight, not merely napping briefly. Enforcement under Sec. 2-21-123 is graduated: an officer who reasonably suspects a lodging, shelter, obstruction or storage violation must first ask for a reasonable explanation, and take no further action if one is given; if none is given, the officer orders the person to leave and remove belongings, and only an individual who refuses to leave, or who returns without a reasonable explanation before the building reopens, is subject to arrest.

For urination, defecation or trash violations, the officer skips straight to an order to leave, with arrest reserved for refusal to comply. Sec. 2-21-124 requires warning signs at each covered building, though a missing sign is not a defense. Sec. S. Chapter 705, and the county disclaims liability for anything lost or stolen while in that custody.