Charlotte, NC Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Sit-Lie Rules (2026)

Section 15-26 defines 'camp or camping' broadly: using city property for living-accommodation purposes such as sleeping, preparing to sleep including laying down bedding, storing personal belongings, or placing a tent or temporary shelter for living purposes. 'Temporary shelter' covers tents, tarps, or any structure or cover providing partial protection from the elements. Subsection (b) makes it unlawful to camp on any public property the city owns, expressly including public rights-of-way and sidewalks, reaching the full range of places someone might set up. Subsection (c) goes further than a simple prohibition: it declares camping a public nuisance outright and lets the city summarily remove a temporary shelter, bedding, or personal belongings without a separate court order authorizing removal at that specific site first.

Subsection (d) adds a distinct fire-safety rule, banning any campfire or bonfire on public property unless a permit specifically authorizes it. S. S. 14-4, the same penalty structure Charlotte uses for its median-loitering and drug-loitering ordinances. The section was rewritten by Ordinance No. 4814(a) in January 2012 and amended again by Ordinance No. 278 in April 2022, and it sits in the same chapter as Charlotte's panhandling and obstruction-device rules, so enforcement officers frequently cite it alongside Section 15-15 (solicitation) or 15-27 (obstruction devices) when clearing an encampment.