California’s homeless encampment laws let cities and counties enforce anti-camping rules on public property, but the enforcement has to follow procedural steps: advance notice, an offer of outreach, and storage of belongings that aren’t a health or safety hazard. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson removed the constitutional barrier that had blocked much of this enforcement across the western states, and California has since layered its own standards on top. What follows is who can do what, on what notice, and what protections stay in place for the people affected.
What Grants Pass Changed
Before June 2024, the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Martin v. City of Boise held that the Eighth Amendment barred cities from criminally punishing people for sleeping outdoors on public property when no shelter was available.1United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Martin v. City of Boise That framework governed California enforcement for nearly six years.
On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court decided City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson in a 6–3 opinion by Justice Gorsuch, holding that enforcing generally applicable laws regulating camping on public property does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.2Supreme Court of the United States. City of Grants Pass v. Johnson Syllabus Cities no longer have to count shelter beds before enforcing a camping ban. Justice Sotomayor’s dissent warned the decision would criminalize poverty, but the ruling stands.
Minimum Standards for a Clearance
In July 2024, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-1-24, directing state agencies to adopt encampment-resolution policies and encouraging local governments to follow suit. The order sets minimum procedural standards for encampment removals on state property.3Governor of California. Executive Order N-1-24
- A notice to vacate must be posted at the site at least 48 hours before removal, unless exigent circumstances exist.
- Agencies must contact service providers to request outreach for people at the encampment before clearing it.
- Personal property collected at the site that is not a health or safety hazard must be labeled and stored for at least 60 days.
- Where feasible, agencies should assess in advance whether the encampment poses an imminent threat to life, health, safety, or infrastructure.
Where exigent circumstances exist, agencies can give less than 48 hours’ notice, but they must provide as much advance warning as reasonably possible.3Governor of California. Executive Order N-1-24
The 2025 Model Ordinance
In May 2025, the Governor released a model ordinance for cities and counties to adopt.4Governor of California. Governor Newsom Releases State Model for Cities and Counties to Immediately Address Encampments It mirrors the executive order and adds detail. Key provisions prohibit persistent camping in one location, ban encampments that block sidewalk passage, and require officials to make every reasonable effort to identify and offer shelter before clearing a site.
The 48-hour posted notice under the model ordinance must state the anticipated date and time of the enforcement action, information about immediately available shelter and services, and how unattended belongings will be handled, including where they can be reclaimed and by when. If the clearance does not begin within two days of the noticed date, a new 48-hour notice has to go up before work can start. Belongings that are not a health or safety hazard must be collected, tagged, and stored for at least 60 days.5Office of the Governor of California. Model Ordinance – Addressing Encampments with Urgency and Dignity
The model ordinance is not binding. Cities can adopt it as written, modify it, write stricter rules, or write weaker ones. The Governor has tied compliance to state funding and has publicly called on every local government to adopt and implement it.
Local Ordinances and the Statewide Lodging Law
Most encampment enforcement happens under municipal ordinances, and those ordinances vary widely from one jurisdiction to the next. They typically work as time, place, and manner restrictions: no camping within a certain distance of schools, no camping in commercial corridors, no camping in a way that blocks a sidewalk, no camping during specific hours. Los Angeles, for instance, has prohibited encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers. Smaller cities may ban camping on all public property. What applies to a given site depends on the specific ordinance where the encampment sits.
California also has a statewide misdemeanor law. Penal Code 647(e) makes it a misdemeanor to lodge in any building, structure, vehicle, or place, public or private, without the permission of the owner or person in control.6California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 647 Most public-property enforcement, though, runs through local ordinances rather than this general statute.
Property Rights During a Clearance
Grants Pass expanded enforcement authority. It said nothing about property rights, which stay fully in place. The Ninth Circuit held in Lavan v. City of Los Angeles that the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments protect homeless persons from government seizure and summary destruction of their unabandoned personal property.7United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Lavan v. City of Los Angeles Officials cannot seize property unless they have an objectively reasonable belief that it is abandoned, poses an immediate health or safety threat, or is contraband.
Storage periods depend on the jurisdiction. The Lavan injunction required Los Angeles to store seized property for at least 90 days.7United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Lavan v. City of Los Angeles The executive order and model ordinance set a 60-day floor for state agencies and recommend the same for locals.5Office of the Governor of California. Model Ordinance – Addressing Encampments with Urgency and Dignity Individual ordinances may set different windows. Across all of them, the baseline is the same: notice before seizure, an opportunity to collect belongings, and a reasonable storage period for what is taken.
Items that pose an immediate threat to public health or safety, including hazardous waste, contraband drug paraphernalia, and biohazardous materials, can be seized and destroyed without storage. Everything else has to be inventoried, labeled, and held at a location the owner is told about.
When a Clearance Crosses the Line
Cities that skip notice or destroy belongings without storage expose themselves to federal civil rights lawsuits under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The most common claims are unreasonable seizure of property under the Fourth Amendment, due process violations under the Fourteenth Amendment for destroying belongings without notice, and municipal liability under Monell v. Department of Social Services when the violation reflects an official policy or pattern. Lavan was itself a § 1983 case and produced the injunction Los Angeles has operated under for over a decade.7United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Lavan v. City of Los Angeles A crew showing up with no warning and bagging everything for disposal is the fact pattern that reliably produces litigation, and courts have not been sympathetic to cities that skip the procedural steps.
Encampments on Private Property
The rules above govern public land. On private property, the framework is different. The owner does not need a city process, and the general lodging misdemeanor under Penal Code 647(e) applies.6California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 647 In practice, removal means calling law enforcement rather than physically confronting anyone. If the property is publicly accessible and no one has been asked to leave, officers may ask the owner to establish and communicate the trespass before arresting. And the government’s authority to clear public encampments does not extend to private land without the owner’s consent or a warrant; where that line is crossed, the property owner may have civil rights claims of their own.
Why Enforcement Is Ramping Up Now
The state has paired legal authority with funding. The Encampment Resolution Funding program, administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, provides one-time grants to help local governments clear encampments while connecting people to interim shelter and permanent housing. A third round remains open on a rolling basis, with priority for encampments on state rights-of-way like Caltrans-maintained highways.8California Grants Portal. Encampment Resolution Funding Program, Round 3, Rolling Application (ERF-3-R) Voters also approved Proposition 1 in 2024, authorizing $6.4 billion in bonds for supportive housing and community-based behavioral health treatment.9Department of Health Care Access and Information. Behavioral Health Transformation – Proposition 1 The Governor has tied both funding streams to adoption of the model ordinance, giving cities financial reasons to formalize their encampment policies alongside their new enforcement authority.