Buena Park, CA Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

24 of the Buena Park Municipal Code, adopted to keep public streets and areas "readily accessible and available to residents and the public at large," bans three distinct activities. 020 defines "camp" as pitching or occupying camp facilities, living temporarily in a camp facility or outdoors, or using camp paraphernalia; "camp facilities" include tents, huts, or temporary shelters; and "camp paraphernalia" includes tarpaulins, cots, beds, sleeping bags, hammocks, and non-city-designated cooking equipment. 040 separately bans storing personal property, including camp facilities and camp paraphernalia, in any park, public street, public parking lot, or other public property.

050 bars sleeping in a vehicle on publicly owned property between dusk and dawn; the only carve-out is for a driver who pulls over because too tired to keep driving safely, and even then the driver may sleep in the vehicle for no more than two consecutive hours. 010: a violation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail unless charged as an infraction, in which case fines run $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second within a year, and $500 for each further offense in that year.

010(B) makes each day of an ongoing violation a separate offense, and subsection (F) lets the city treat a violation as a nuisance and seek civil abatement or an injunction, with attorneys' fees available to the prevailing party if the city elects to pursue them at the outset of the action.