On Tuesday, the Carlsbad City Council took action to address quality of life concerns related to people living in vehicles. Specifically, they introduced an ordinance to prohibit camping in vehicles in public spaces and city-owned property.
“The goal of the presented ordinance is to have a balanced approach to helping people experiencing homelessness secure housing while continuing to reduce the impacts of homelessness on the community,” said Housing & Homeless Services Director Mandy Mills.
The city will continue its approach of first offering shelter and services prior to citing a person.
If services are refused, the city’s Homeless Outreach Team officers will then issue warnings.
If the unlawful behavior continues, citations will be an available tool for officers to use.
“Our Homeless Outreach Team remains committed to a compassion-led approach in addressing homelessness,” said Carlsbad Chief of Police Christie Calderwood, “This ordinance provides our officers with an additional tool to maintain public safety and hold and address unlawful behavior when necessary, while continuing to prioritize services and resources for those in need.”
Background
People living in their vehicles has been a growing concern throughout the region.
According the 2024 annual Point-in-Time Count, the number of people living in cars and RVs in Carlsbad has nearly doubled from the year before, with most in the downtown Carlsbad area. Regionwide there was an increase of 44% over the previous year.
Feedback gathered from the community and members of the city’s Housing and Traffic Safety & Mobility commissions in recent months generally indicated a desire for a citywide approach to addressing people living in vehicles, along with additional enforcement and case-by-case outreach tools to help get people experiencing homelessness into housing.
Next steps
The City Council is scheduled to adopt the ordinance at its next City Council meeting, March 18, and the changes would go into effect 30 days after that.
The city’s Homeless Outreach Team – consisting of six officers and one Sergeant who are out in the community seven days a week – will conduct public outreach to individuals living in vehicles to inform them of the new laws and try to bridge them to available resources.
City staff will provide updates on how this change is working as part of the regular progress reports provided to the City Council twice a year.
Carlsbad-specific bans
In 2021, as part of our homeless response plan, the City Council made several changes to the Carlsbad Municipal Code (a collection of city-specific laws). The City Council’s action this week expands the language in the municipal code to include unlawful camping in vehicles.
Prohibited in Carlsbad
Unlawful camping on public and private property (including in vehicles)
Fires and cooking on public property
Storage of personal property in public places
Solicitation
Trespassing
Obstruction of property
Disorderly conduct
Possessing or consuming open containers of alcohol in certain public places
These restrictions, coupled with the services we have in place to help move people out of homelessness, are designed to focus on long-term solutions while addressing community impacts. Here is a video that explains our approach.
Grant to ease city costs
On Jan. 28, 2025, the City Council accepted $3 million in grant funding that will help address increasing concerns about people living in their cars in the Village, Barrio and beach areas.
One of the actions in the city’s five-year Homelessness Action Plan focuses on helping people living in their cars get into stable housing.
With the new grant funding, this effort can begin earlier than planned, while freeing up city funds to be spent on other important community needs.
Reaching people living in cars is challenging because they are often on the move during the day. Over the next three years, the city will use the grant funding to expand outreach efforts to include early morning and late-night hours, when they have the best chance of making contact with people sleeping in vehicles.
