Pontiac, MI Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Sit-Lie Rules (2026)

Pontiac City Code § 102-53(a) prohibits any person from collecting, assembling or grouping together with another person and then standing or remaining on any sidewalk, parking area or street corner, or at any other place in the City of Pontiac, in a way that hinders or obstructs the free passage of anyone traveling on a sidewalk, street or other public place. Subsection (b) separately bars causing a crowd to assemble in front of a store or on a sidewalk, street or alley so as to obstruct travel or create noise, disturbance or riot that disturbs the peace and good order of the neighborhood.

The section, carried from Code 1985 § 23-28, sits in Chapter 102, Article II, Division 3 (Obstructions), alongside the companion ban on obstructing streets and sidewalks with articles or debris at § 102-51 and the ban on unpermitted street vending at § 102-52. Because this division has no dedicated penalty clause, a violation falls under the City Code's general penalty at § 1-25: a fine of up to $500.00, imprisonment in the city or county jail for up to 90 days, or both, at the court's discretion, with a mandatory minimum $500.00 fine and/or 90 days for a second conviction of the same offense.

Enforcement in the City of Pontiac runs through the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, which polices Pontiac under contract from its Pontiac substation. The ordinance does not mention homelessness, panhandling or sitting/lying as such; it is framed entirely around obstruction of passage and disorderly assembly, so a person sitting quietly on a sidewalk without blocking anyone's path is not, on the section's text, in violation.