San Bernardino, CA Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

010 states the chapter's purpose plainly: public streets and areas should be readily accessible to residents and the public at large, and using them for camping or storing personal property interferes with that use, so the chapter exists to keep public streets and areas clean and accessible. 020 defines CAMP to mean pitching or occupying camp facilities, living temporarily in a camp facility or outdoors, or using camp paraphernalia; CAMP FACILITIES includes tents, huts or temporary shelters; and CAMP PARAPHERNALIA includes tarpaulins, cots, beds, sleeping bags, hammocks or non-city-designated cooking equipment.

030 then bars camping, occupying camp facilities or using camp paraphernalia on any street, any public parking lot or public area (improved or unimproved), or any park, except as otherwise provided. 040 separately bars storing personal property, including camp facilities and paraphernalia, in those same three categories of public places. Both operative sections use the phrase 'except as otherwise provided,' preserving room for city-authorized exceptions such as sanctioned shelter or safe-parking programs elsewhere in the code. The chapter was adopted by Ordinance MC-945 on June 20, 1995, and has not been amended since, so the underlying camping and storage bans predate more recent state and federal caselaw on encampment enforcement; the city must apply the ordinance consistent with current constitutional limits on camping bans where shelter capacity is insufficient.