Largo, FL Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Section 21-82 of the Largo City Code, enacted by Ordinance No. 2024-46 on August 6, 2024, splits the ban into public property generally and the right-of-way specifically. Under subsection (a), it is unlawful for any person to place, use, or occupy a tent, hut, lean-to, shack, or other "prohibited item" on public property unless a city permit authorized elsewhere in the Code has been issued for it. The only carve-out on public property is for an individual in a city park using an open-sided cover, such as a beach umbrella, to block sun during daylight or rain while it is raining, so long as that use is not otherwise barred by park rules.

Subsection (b) applies the same rule to the right-of-way: placing, using, or occupying a prohibited item there is unlawful unless a permit that specifically authorizes it has been issued, such as a parade permit or a street closure permit obtained under a different section of the Code. In the right-of-way, the only exemption is a handheld umbrella used against sun or rain; larger fixed structures like tents and lean-tos get no exception there at all. Because the ordinance defines "prohibited items" broadly to include any temporary shelter, it reaches the physical structures used to establish or sustain an encampment on sidewalks, medians, parkland, and other city-owned land, separate from the conduct-based sleeping and lying ban in the adjoining Section 21-81.

Enforcement runs through the general Code violation process: since the ordinance labels a breach a "violation of this Code" rather than setting a bespoke penalty, it is enforceable by the city's code enforcement officers and, where applicable, through the municipal citation process available for other Code violations.