Kyle, TX Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Section 23-310 defines camping as using a public area for living accommodations: keeping personal belongings there, building a campfire, using a tent, shelter, structure, or vehicle to live in, cooking, or digging or breaking earth to support any of those activities. Section 23-311 makes it an offense to camp in a public area the city has not designated as a camping area, and it is also an offense to engage in any of the listed activities if the totality of the circumstances shows the person is using the area for living accommodation purposes, regardless of the person's intent or any other activity underway.

Section 23-302 places enforcement with the police department, the code enforcement officer, or an employee designated by the city manager, and makes every violation a Class C misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500.00 fine, with each day a separate offense. The article carves out three exceptions: permitted camping or cooking inside a park under the park's own rules, a private campground operated with the landowner's consent that follows other applicable laws, and simply falling asleep in a public area, which section 23-311(f) says is not camping by itself.

Section 23-313 also gives an affirmative defense to a person who parks to rest or sleep in a vehicle for safety, for no more than four hours, while sober. If a person is arrested under this article, Section 23-314 requires the city to offer a chance to designate belongings for safekeeping with a third party outside the public area before the property becomes eligible for removal and disposal by the city.