National City, CA Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Sit-Lie Rules (2026)

Section 11.44.050 splits into a stand rule and a sit-lie rule, both limited to public sidewalks in commercial zones between seven a.m. and ten p.m. Under subsection A, no person can stop or stand on the sidewalk except as near as reasonably possible to an adjacent building or curb line. Under subsection B, no person can sit or lie down on the sidewalk, or on a blanket, chair, stool or any other object placed on it. The text is confined to commercial zones, so residential sidewalks fall outside it.

Subsection C lists five exceptions: a person stopping, standing, sitting or lying down due to a medical emergency; a person who, as the result of disability, uses a wheelchair, walker or similar device to move about the sidewalk; a person operating or patronizing a commercial establishment conducted on the sidewalk under a temporary use permit, or taking part in or attending a parade, festival, performance, rally, demonstration, meeting or similar event under a temporary use or other applicable permit; a person stopping or standing near, or sitting on, a chair or bench supplied by a public agency or by the abutting private property owner; and a person stopping or standing near, or sitting on, the sidewalk within a bus stop while waiting for public or private transportation.

Subsection D builds in a warning. No person can be cited unless he or she engages in the prohibited conduct after a police officer has notified the person that the conduct violates the section. A first encounter therefore produces notice, and a citation follows only for conduct that continues or resumes after it. Section 11.44.040 separately bars standing in a roadway outside a safety zone or crosswalk when it interferes with the lawful movement of traffic.