San Diego County has given final approval to an updated camping ban that boosts penalties for starting outdoor fires in unincorporated areas.
The rules prohibit homeless encampments, including the use of tents and hand-built structures, as well as sleeping outside while “possessing an Ignition Source,” such as a lighter. Sheriff’s deputies may ticket anyone who “poses an imminent risk of death, serious injury, or spread of wildfire or communicable disease.”
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the measure on Tuesday. The ordinance takes effect in 30 days.
There were technically already rules against illegal camping, but the newest vote makes the county the latest local government to adopt a harder line against encampments since the U.S. Supreme Court gave officials more leeway to clear streets and sidewalks.
At the same time, homelessness countywide seems to finally be going down. Earlier Tuesday, the Regional Task Force on Homelessness released this year’s point-in-time count, which found that the number of people living outside or in shelters had decreased by several hundred from 2024.
In unincorporated communities, the unsheltered population dropped from 201 last year to 178 in January.
The camping ban applies to any property owned, leased or managed by the county. Storing personal belongings on that land isn’t allowed. Nor is discarding “any lighted tobacco product.” The ordinance further prohibits “digging, removing vegetation and building structures” in a way that “damages, impairs, or interferes with the function of the property.”
Supervisors approved the rules without debate, although when the measure was introduced earlier in the month the board considered, but ultimately scrapped, a more expansive proposal that would have allowed citations whenever homeless people refused available shelter beds, regardless of whether there were camp fires.
