Gloucester County, NJ Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Section 2(r) of the Gloucester County Parks Rules & Regulations bars erecting "tents or any other temporary shelter for the purpose of overnight camping" anywhere in a Park Area, "except as may be specifically permitted for County sponsored or authorized events." The same subsection separately prohibits leaving, after closing hours, "any movable structure or special vehicle to be used for such purposes, such as a house trailer, camp trailer, camp wagon, or similar device," closing off vehicle-based camping and sleeping in a parked trailer as well as tent camping.

Closing hours, set under Section 3(b), run through the end of daylight except for posted exceptions and lit athletic fields, so a tent, trailer, or temporary shelter still standing after that time is a violation even if it went up during the day. The overnight-camping ban pairs with Section 2(kk), which separately bars sleeping or "protractedly loung[ing]" on park benches or equipment, and with Section 2(mm), which bars public urination or defecation anywhere in a Park Area, giving the county's Parks and Recreation Department several overlapping tools to address an encampment rather than relying on the camping ban alone.

Parks and Recreation Department staff administer these provisions under Section 3(e). Under Section 3(f), staff or authorized representatives may request that anyone violating the rules immediately leave park premises, or ask law enforcement to enforce compliance, and violators "may be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." A conviction under Section 3(g) carries fines or imprisonment, or both, "as prescribed by law for each offense," with the County of Gloucester bringing the prosecution.