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

020 defines "camp" broadly: using public property for sleeping, preparing to sleep (including laying down bedding), storing personal belongings such as clothing, sleeping bags, bedrolls, blankets, luggage, backpacks, or cookware, making a fire, using a tent or other structure for sleeping or cooking, or living in a parked vehicle. The ordinance states these activities count as camping whenever it reasonably appears, given all the circumstances, that the person is using the area as a living accommodation, regardless of stated intent or other activities also occurring there; using a blanket to picnic is expressly exempted.

Subsection B prohibits camping on any public property, public park, or public street or highway, while carving out camping in a public campground under a lawful permit. Subsection C separately bars camping on private property without the owner's or lessee's permission. Subsection D targets vehicle dwelling directly: no person may sleep or recline in a vehicle parked on a public street or highway for more than two continuous hours. Subsection E adds a public-space obstruction rule, barring standing or sitting on a crosswalk or other public right-of-way, park, or property open to the public (including shopping centers) in a way that unreasonably obstructs pedestrian passage or hinders, molests, or annoys others, or blocks entrances to public buildings or parks.

The section traces to Prior Code 19-7, originally adopted by Ordinance No. 68-47 in 1968 and amended by Ordinance No. 20 alongside the spray-paint and trespass provisions enforced by the same officers.