Decatur, AL Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

The public camping rule sits in Chapter 16, Offenses, as § 16-3, a provision dating to a 1978 ordinance. Subsection (a) makes it unlawful for any person to do any camping or to erect or maintain any tent, shelter, trailer, wagon or other type of camping shelter and related equipment on five categories of public land. The first is the city hall property at 402 Lee Street, NE, bounded by Lee Street, Ferry Street, Cain Street and Well Street. The others are all public rights-of-way within the corporate limits, all city library properties, all parks and playgrounds, and the county courthouse, public office buildings and their grounds.

Two carve-outs exist. In parks and playgrounds, camping is allowed in established or designated camping areas set aside by the director of parks and recreation, subject to all rules and regulations promulgated for those areas. At the county courthouse and public office buildings, camping is allowed where authorized by constituted authority. Because the rights-of-way category covers every public street and sidewalk in the city, the rule reaches most public ground outside those two carve-outs. The section does not use the word homeless and applies to anyone camping on the listed property.

Subsection (b) is the cleanup protocol. Personal property not removed by the owner or custodian is deemed abandoned personal property and is handled under § 22-6. That section makes it the duty of the police department to take possession of abandoned property found in public places, store it at the police station or another suitable place, and keep a permanent public record describing each item, the date taken and where it was found. Perishable property is sold immediately, with proceeds held six months for the owner. Other property held three months or more is sold at least every six months at public auction after notice published once a week for two successive weeks, the first at least twenty days before the sale. The owner can redeem stored property before sale by paying the taking, storage and publication costs.