Trenton, NJ Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Trenton Code § 201-15, part of the Peace and Good Order chapter's Article V, Sleeping on Streets, adopted in 1967 as former § 3-36, prohibits sleeping, lodging, or taking up residence on any street, sidewalk, concourse, park, or other public area, including the floors and passageways of public buildings, and extends the same ban to the floors and passageways of common areas in private buildings, structures, or places. The article builds in a mandatory referral step before enforcement: § 201-16 requires the Trenton Police Department to advise anyone found in violation of the availability of emergency shelter, and to offer to transport or arrange transportation to that shelter if necessary and appropriate.

Section 201-17 makes that referral a hard precondition, not just a courtesy: Subsection B states no person shall be found to be in violation of this article unless such person has been first advised as to the availability of emergency shelter. Only after that advisory has been given does the general penalty apply under § 201-17A, which routes to the Chapter 1, Article III general penalty at § 1-17: a fine of up to $2,000, imprisonment in county jail for up to 90 days, or up to 90 days of community service. The chapter does not set out a separate encampment-cleanup or removal-notice procedure; its only mechanism is the sleep/lodge prohibition paired with the shelter-referral precondition.