Orlando, FL Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Sit-Lie Rules (2026)

88 makes it unlawful to sit or lie down on a public sidewalk, or on a blanket, chair, stool, or other object placed on a sidewalk, inside the Downtown Core District, but only after a law enforcement officer has first notified the person of the prohibition. The district is a defined downtown perimeter running along South and North Parramore Avenue, South and North Hughey Avenue, West Robinson Street, West Concord Street, Putnam Avenue, West Colonial Drive, West and East Amelia Street, North and South Rosalind Avenue, and East and West Anderson Street back to South Division Avenue, including the sidewalks and rights-of-way abutting those streets.

The section lists six affirmative defenses a cited person can raise: a medical emergency; use of a wheelchair, walker, stroller, or similar mobility device due to age, infirmity, or disability; operating or patronizing a business under a street-use permit, or attending a permitted parade, festival, or rally; sitting on a chair or bench supplied by a public agency, private agency, or the abutting property owner; waiting in an orderly line for building entry (including shelters), social services such as meal provision, or box-office ticket sales; and participating in a planned, publicized protest of ten or more people with signs or literature, held under a proper city permit.

#020805701) and amended by Ord. No. 2017-42, § 4, on July 24, 2017. It sits in Chapter 43, Miscellaneous Offenses, and applies only within the mapped Downtown Core boundary, it does not reach sidewalks elsewhere in the city.