Duluth, MN Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Duluth Legislative Code section 34-46, adopted by Ord. No. 10898 on July 29, 2024, declares that camping or establishing a campsite on city property creates social, public safety and health hazards, including accumulation of garbage and human waste and fire danger from unchecked cooking fires, and finds it a public nuisance. It defines 'campsite' as any place where a tent, lean-to, shack or other structure, or bedding, sleeping bag or other sleeping material, is placed or maintained to establish a temporary shelter, and bars any person from camping or establishing a campsite on land owned by the city or in any city right-of-way unless specifically authorized.

The section builds in due-process steps before a citation can issue: an enforcement officer, defined as a licensed peace officer with the Duluth Police Department, must first inform the person of available charitable and social services, including shelter options and daytime services, then warn them that their conduct violates the section and is subject to prosecution, and during nighttime hours of 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., confirm and document that some form of overnight shelter is actually available to that person. A person already trespassed from otherwise available shelter is deemed to have shelter available. Once warned, a person who simply relocates to another covered space is not entitled to a fresh warning.