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

Southfield City Code § 9.130, Loitering on or about public ways, is a narrow, obstruction-based sit-lie rule: it is unlawful for any person to linger, loiter, sit or stand on any street, sidewalk, overpass or public place in such a manner as to hinder or impede, or tend to hinder or impede, the passage of pedestrians or vehicles. The section, unlike § 9.129's indoor loitering rule next to it in Chapter 114, does not require a business owner's objection or the absence of a lawful purpose; the trigger is solely whether the person's position on the public way tends to block foot or vehicle traffic.

Someone sitting against a building wall on a wide sidewalk with room for others to pass falls outside the section's reach, while a person or group spread across a sidewalk, stairway, or overpass so that pedestrians must step into the street does not. The rule applies citywide, including along Southfield's office-tower corridors near the Lodge/I-696/M-10 interchange and around the Northland and Town Center areas where foot traffic concentrates. Section 9.130 has no penalty clause of its own, so the general Code penalty in § 1.15 governs any violation: a fine of up to $500, imprisonment of up to 90 days, or both, with each day of continued obstruction a separate offense.

Southfield Police Department officers enforce the section, typically after observing the obstruction directly or responding to a complaint that pedestrians or vehicles were forced around a person blocking the way.