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

Section 46-213 is titled "Preservation of buildings and other property" and mainly bars defacing park structures, damaging plants, or setting unauthorized fires, but subsection (g) is a standalone camping ban: no person may camp within any park area, or on a highway, road, or street abutting a park, without authorization from the director. Paragraph (1) defines camping to include sleeping or otherwise being in a temporary shelter out-of-doors, sleeping out-of-doors, or cooking over an open flame or fire out-of-doors. Paragraph (2) then constrains enforcement rather than expanding it: simply being asleep in a public place during late night or early morning hours is not by itself enough for a violation, and an officer needs at least one specific indicia of true camping before citing someone, such as the person being inside a tent or sleeping bag, asleep atop or covered by bedding, cardboard, or newspapers, inside some other temporary shelter, having built a campfire, or being asleep and volunteering when woken that they have no other place to live.

The subsection closes by directing that homeless persons should be advised of available alternative shelters rather than simply cited. Enforcement runs through police officers and recreation and parks employees under § 46-3, and because § 46-213 sets no specific fine, a violation is punishable under the citywide general penalty at § 1-9: up to a $500.00 fine, up to 60 days in jail, or both, with each continuing day a separate offense.