Miami Beach, FL Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

City Code Sec. 70-45 defines public camping or sleeping to include lodging or residing outdoors as shown by a tent or temporary shelter, bedding, stored personal belongings, or lying, sitting or resting on or under any item or material; cooking over an open flame outdoors; or simply sleeping outdoors. Sec. 70-45(2) prohibits this on all public property unless a governmental authority specifically authorizes it, though a person on a public beach during operating hours cannot be charged unless an officer finds evidence the beach is being used as a living space rather than for recreation.

Before any arrest, Sec. 70-45(3) requires that a person who volunteers they have no home be given the chance to voluntarily enter a homeless shelter in Miami-Dade County or accept other government assistance leading to housing, including reunification with family; if no shelter or housing assistance is available, an arrest may not be made. That protection does not extend to someone ineligible for shelter placement, including for intoxication, a prior shelter ban, or sex-offender or domestic-violence-offender status. Upon arrest, evidence of camping such as sleeping bags, bedrolls, cardboard or newspapers must be seized and logged into property and evidence rather than destroyed, while other non-evidentiary personal property goes with the defendant to the county jail (Sec.

70-45(4)). Violations are punished under the general penalty provision, Sec. 1-14 of the city code (Sec. 70-45(5)). The current version reflects amendments through Ord. No. 2024-4647, adopted September 11, 2024.