La Habra, CA Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Chapter 12.06, Camping and Storage of Personal Property, states its purpose is to keep the city's streets and public areas clean and accessible and to make it unlawful to camp in areas not designed for camping. Section 12.06.020 defines camping broadly: pitching or occupying camp facilities such as tents, huts or temporary shelters, or using camp paraphernalia, defined to include tarpaulins, cots, beds, sleeping bags, hammocks or noncity cooking equipment. Section 12.06.030 bans camping, occupying camp facilities or using camp paraphernalia on any street or in any off-street parking lot or structure that the city maintains, owns or operates, except where otherwise provided.

Section 12.06.040 separately bans storing personal property, including camp facilities and camp paraphernalia, in any park, street, or city-owned off-street parking lot or structure, except as the city council allows by resolution. The definitions section extends 'street' to include sidewalks, parkways, alleys, bridges, culverts and drains, so the ban reaches areas well beyond a roadway itself. Section 12.06.050 places enforcement with the chief of police and designees, notwithstanding the general administrative citation process in Chapter 1.20, and makes violation a misdemeanor. The ordinances codifying this chapter date to Ordinance No.

1489 § 1, adopted in 1995. Cleanup of abandoned camp material falls to Community Development code enforcement and Public Works crews acting on the nuisance and storage provisions rather than a separate cleanup ordinance.