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

Yucaipa Municipal Code § 12.06.010 prohibits camping and the storage of personal property on public property anywhere in the City of Yucaipa. Camping means conducting more than one of five listed activities when it reasonably appears the person is using the property for living accommodation: sleeping or preparing to sleep (including in a vehicle or recreational vehicle, or with the windows obscured), erecting or using a tent or other shelter, unattended storage of belongings, making fires or using flame-producing cooking devices (with an exception for city-provided cooking facilities in parks), and digging to create or improve a shelter. Camping is deemed to occur whether or not a full night is spent at a location.

Public property is defined to include public alleyways, parking lots, streets, rights-of-way, park playgrounds, state highways, parks, greenbelts, publicly owned fences, trees and light poles, open spaces, public buildings, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and public educational institutions.

The cleanup protocol is in subsection D. Before removing property the enforcement officer or designee attempts to give any readily apparent owner notice and a reasonable opportunity to remove it. If there is no readily apparent owner, or the owner refuses, the property can be removed, and a notice is posted on or near the spot stating where the property was, when notice was served or posted, that storage violates the section, that the property is impounded for at least 30 days and discarded after 30 days if unclaimed, where and when it can be retrieved with no storage or retrieval fee, and what housing, shelter and homeless services are available with a phone number and address. Items that are an immediate threat to health or safety, evidence of a crime or contraband can be discarded at once.

Subsection E exempts a declared state of emergency, persons at a permitted event, and camping in properly zoned and legally established accommodations designated for camping. Subsection F lets the city attorney prosecute as a misdemeanor or infraction and lets the city seek an injunction in superior court. Inside parks, § 12.04.170 separately bars camping without an approved special event permit.