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

24 defines LODGE OR LODGING as residing or dwelling in a place using it as a home, including cooking, bathing, eating, sleeping, or storing personal possessions there, and SHELTER to include tents, tarps, sleeping bags, or any cover from the elements other than clothing. Subsection (B) bars lodging on public property at any time without the City Manager's permission, though permission can be granted to schools and groups like Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts for educational purposes. Critically, subsection (C) states that lodging without permission alone is not enough to cite or arrest someone; an officer also needs one of five additional factors, such as storing personal property, cooking, maintaining an unpermitted fire, unauthorized digging, or nude bathing in public facilities.

Subsection (D) requires a two-step process before enforcement: the officer must first try to determine whether the person needs medical, mental-health, drug/alcohol, or homeless-assistance services and offer transport to a hospital, social service agency, or public shelter without citation or arrest; only if the person refuses needed assistance, or needs none and refuses to stop the violation, does a civil citation issue, escalating to physical arrest only if the person then refuses to comply with an officer's order to vacate. Subsection (E) lets a person avoid a violation entirely by immediately leaving and removing belongings, so long as they do not return for 30 days.

Separately, subsection (G) bans storing unattended personal property on public property at any time and attended property for more than 24 hours, subject to required notice first. Penalties under subsection (L) are graduated civil infractions: $50 for a first violation, $100 for a second, and $150 for each additional violation within a year, with unpaid or uncontested citations risking a county court judgment up to $500. Removed personal property is inventoried and held 30 days for the owner to reclaim under subsection (I), unless it is unsanitary, hazardous, or of no apparent utility, in which case it can be discarded immediately.