Osceola County, FL Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Osceola County adopted the current version of § 18-3 through Ordinance No. 2024-75 on December 2, 2024, replacing an older 'temporary habitation' section with a countywide camping and sleeping ban. The prohibition reaches any public property, expressly including county-owned buildings and their surrounding grounds, defined broadly to include grass areas, sidewalks, parking facilities, county streets, rights-of-way, and other public ways, unless the county has designated that specific location for recreational camping and sleeping. 'Public camping or sleeping' is defined two ways: lodging overnight in a temporary outdoor shelter such as a tent, evidenced by bedding, pillows, or stored belongings, or lodging overnight outdoors with no shelter at all.

The ordinance carves out two exceptions: sleeping overnight inside a registered, insured motor vehicle that is lawfully parked, and recreational camping on property the county has specifically designated for that purpose. A person violating subsection (a) can be subject to trespass violations under Florida Statutes Chapter 810, and law enforcement officers are authorized to take necessary legal action to remove someone violating the section. Because the definition covers county streets, sidewalks, and rights-of-way as well as buildings and their grounds, the ban functions as the county's primary tool for clearing encampments from public property outside designated sites.