Rialto, CA Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

38, adopted by Ordinance No. 010 to include sleeping, storing personal belongings such as clothing, sleeping bags, bedrolls, luggage or cookware, cooking, making a fire, erecting a tent or other shelter, or living in a parked vehicle, when circumstances show a person is using the property as a living accommodation regardless of stated intent. 020 flatly prohibits camping, occupying camping facilities, or using camping paraphernalia on private real property, a city park, or other public property, except as permitted elsewhere in the chapter. 030 carves out three narrow exceptions: camping with the private property owner's permission where the site has restroom, shower, water, sewer, trash and electrical service; camping in a licensed campground; or camping permitted directly by the city council under its own terms and conditions.

040 sets the penalty as a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to one thousand dollars, up to six months in county jail, or both. Critically, this section also imposes cleanup liability: both the violator and the property owner are held civilly and financially responsible for the cost of cleaning up the encampment and any costs the city incurs in the process, giving the city a direct cost-recovery tool against landowners who allow encampments to persist on their land.