Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday asked every city and county in California to a ban on homeless encampments.
The governor even provided a sample law for local leaders to adopt, saying in a statement that he was “giving them a model they can put to work immediately, with urgency and with humanity.”
Yet the San Diego area has hardly been inactive on that front. All 18 cities in San Diego County — as well as the county itself — already have prohibitions against tent camps.
The majority of those laws were ed before the U.S. Supreme Court last summer gave officials more leeway to clear streets and sidewalks. The city of San Diego adopted its ordinance in 2023. Carlsbad began revising the rules governing homelessness in 2021. La Mesa put an anti-camping law on the books in 1995.
At the same time, law enforcement’s effectiveness at keeping land tent-free is hampered by the region’s long-standing shelter shortage and the fact that, month after month, the number of people losing their homes for the first time continues to exceed how many homeless people find housing.
What the governor wants
Newsom’s proposed ordinance calls for several restrictions.
Hand-built shacks on public property wouldn’t be allowed. You couldn’t “sit, sleep, lie, or camp” on streets in a way that “impedes age.” Homeless people should get a 48-hour heads-up before an encampment is taken down, although all bets are off if there’s an “imminent threat to life.”
If clean-up crews happen upon a wheelchair, bank statement or other items of “apparent personal value,” the city is to store it for at least two months.
Officials must also offer aid to those they meet, the governor’s office wrote. “No person should face criminal punishment for sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go.”
A review of municipal codes around the county shows versions of those rules are currently in effect.
The county and the city
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors just last week gave initial approval to an updated camping ban for unincorporated areas. The measure must be voted on again May 20 to become law.
The ordinance allows sheriff’s deputies to ticket people whose campsites pose an “imminent risk of death” or “serious injury,” especially when it comes to the spread of “communicable disease” or wildfires. Even storing a lighter in a tent, regardless of whether it’s lit, is banned.
While the U.S. Supreme Court said local governments may clear encampments regardless of whether shelter is available, the supervisors did not approve a more sweeping crackdown on everyone sleeping outside.
The same goes for the city of San Diego, which has tied some enforcement of its Unsafe Camping Ordinance to the availability of short-term beds. Only a handful of people were prosecuted during the measure’s early months.
San Diego officers face additional limits because of a court settlement that says residents living in cars or RVs should not be cited when there’s nowhere else to go. The opening of H Barracks, a massive safe parking lot by the airport, could allow police to resume writing those tickets, although even those 190 spaces are expected to fill up within a few months.
The department has more freedom to punish people whose tents are near schools, trolleys, waterways, parks and other “sensitive” locations.
South County
Two South County cities ed bans in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
Like San Diego, Chula Vista outlawed encampments within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and shelters, among other places. Homeless people should get a 24-hour warning before a site is cleared unless there’s a public safety threat.
National City similarly decided that nobody could camp within two blocks of waterways, transportation hubs or classrooms. That law came with a 72-hour heads-up. The city promised to store any seized property for about three months.
Imperial Beach’s general ban against camping on “public grounds” ed in 2019.
Across the bridge in Coronado, sleeping in parks and on area beaches is allowed — but only during the day. From 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., you can’t “camp, lodge, or sleep” in shared areas, and you may never leave tents unattended.
North County
Farther north, Del Mar bars anyone using a “bedroll” on public land during the “hours of darkness.” Nor may you “tarry at night” while on private property.
Poway ed a camping ban two years ago. Solana Beach did the same thing in the 1980s, albeit without guidance on how to store, say, wheelchairs.
Escondido approved an updated anti-camping ordinance right before the Supreme Court stepped in. Council prohibited tents within 500 feet of schools and parks and outlawed hand-built structures by riverbeds. Yet as in many municipalities, that law was hardly the only way to address homelessness. Officials later cited entirely different regulations, related to environmental emergencies, when they cleared one large encampment by Escondido Creek.
Not long after the court ruling, Encinitas decided to boost enforcement of an existing camping ban. Vista reportedly did the same thing. (Both cities also invested in a new homeless shelter.)
San Marcos and Oceanside approved restrictions during the past 12 months, while the Carlsbad City Council voted earlier this year to prohibit residents from living in vehicles parked on public property.
East County
Like the County of San Diego, Santee ed an ordinance targeting encampment fires in early 2023.
Broad bans against illegal camping in La Mesa and Lemon Grove are much older. In recent years, both cities have invested, or are about to invest, more heavily in homeless outreach.
El Cajon police didn’t need to change much after the Supreme Court weighed in. A nearby shelter, the East County Transitional Living Center, regularly has open beds for single adults, which has long given officers more freedom to take down tent camps.
Space for families, however, is a different story. Leaders of the transitional living center recently said that waiting list includes around 500 households.
