Oregon Homeless Laws: 72-Hour Notice, Belongings, and Vehicles

Oregon’s homeless camping laws, set out in ORS Chapter 195, require every city and county rule on sitting, lying, sleeping, or keeping warm and dry outdoors on public property to be “objectively reasonable” toward people experiencing homelessness, and they require agencies to give 72 hours’ written notice and store personal property for 30 days before clearing a campsite. These state protections now stand on their own. In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court held in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that enforcing generally applicable camping laws does not violate the Eighth Amendment, whether or not shelter beds are available.¹ The federal constitutional floor that once blocked cities from ticketing people who had nowhere else to sleep is gone. Oregon’s statutes remain, and they are now the main source of legal protection.

What “Objectively Reasonable” Means

ORS 195.530 is the statute doing most of the work. Any local law regulating sitting, lying, sleeping, or keeping warm and dry outdoors on public property must be “objectively reasonable as to time, place and manner” with regard to people experiencing homelessness.² The standard has been in force since July 1, 2023.

Reasonableness is judged on the totality of the circumstances, including the impact of the law on people experiencing homelessness.² There is no bright-line test. A rule that bans sleeping in every public space at every hour is unlikely to survive. A rule that limits daytime camping but allows overnight rest in defined areas has a stronger footing.

“Keeping warm and dry” is defined as using measures necessary for outdoor survival given the environmental conditions, but the definition specifically excludes anything involving fire or flame.² Blankets and a tarp during a rainstorm are protected. An open fire on a sidewalk is not.

One boundary worth naming: ORS 195.530 does not govern how a specific campsite gets cleared. Removal procedures fall under ORS 195.500 and 195.505 and are expressly excluded from the “objectively reasonable” standard.² Those procedures have their own rules.

Notice Before a Campsite Is Cleared

Every state and local agency must follow ORS 195.505 before removing an established campsite. The core rule is a written notice posted at least 72 hours in advance. That notice must appear in English and Spanish, and it has to be posted at all entrances to the site that can reasonably be identified.³ It must tell people where their unclaimed belongings will be stored, provide a phone number for that information, or at a minimum give the address of an agency that will have those details when they become available.⁴

Separately, ORS 195.500 requires every Oregon city and county to adopt a removal policy that “recognizes the social nature of the problem” and ensures “the most humane treatment for removal.”⁵ Camp removal cannot be handled as a routine code enforcement task.

When the 72-Hour Rule Does Not Apply

Two situations let agencies skip the waiting period. The first is illegal activity: when law enforcement has grounds to believe crimes other than camping are occurring at the site. The second is an exceptional emergency, which the statute describes as including hazardous material contamination, public health emergencies, and other immediate dangers to human life or safety.³

There is no general “public nuisance” exception. Litter or noise complaints alone do not justify bypassing the 72-hour notice.

What Happens to Your Belongings

When a camp is cleared, agencies cannot simply throw everything out. ORS 195.505 requires that unclaimed personal property with apparent value or utility be stored for at least 30 days.³ During that time the property must be “reasonably available” to anyone claiming ownership, and items belonging to the same person have to be kept together to the extent ownership can be determined.

Where the property is stored depends on where the camp was. Outside Multnomah County, the storage facility must be located in the same community as the site that was cleared. Inside Multnomah County, it must be within six blocks of a public transit station.³

Not everything gets stored. Items with no apparent value or utility, or items in an insanitary condition, can be discarded during the removal itself. Weapons and controlled substances go to law enforcement, along with items that appear stolen or that constitute evidence of a crime. Prescription medication is treated as personal property to be stored, not as a controlled substance to be confiscated.³

After 30 days, unclaimed property may be disposed of or donated to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.⁴ The statute does not directly address retrieval fees, but the “reasonably available” requirement suggests that barriers to getting your things back would be inconsistent with the law.

Living in a Vehicle

Vehicle-based living sits on a separate track. ORS 195.530 protects sitting, lying, sleeping, and keeping warm and dry on public property, but a car parked on a public street is also subject to traffic and parking rules, and those rules typically have sharper enforcement teeth.

Many Oregon cities set parking duration limits of 24 to 72 hours, after which a vehicle can be treated as abandoned and towed. Gladstone, for instance, allows towing after a 72-hour notice when police reasonably believe a vehicle has been abandoned or is parked without permission on city property.⁶ Once a vehicle is impounded, release fees and daily storage costs can climb quickly, with towing typically running roughly $50 to $370 and daily storage $20 to $50 depending on the jurisdiction.

Some cities operate designated safe parking or safe sleep sites. Eugene runs a program authorized through June 30, 2028, with sites that can accommodate up to 60 vehicles and offer restrooms, showers, case management, personal property storage, and veterinary care for pets.⁷ There is no statewide mandate that cities offer these programs, so availability varies. If you are living in a vehicle, check whether your city runs one before relying on street parking.

Where Cities Can Still Restrict Camping

State law sets a floor, not a ceiling. Local governments keep the power to designate specific areas where camping is limited or prohibited, provided the rules meet the objectively reasonable standard.

The zones vary. Hillsboro prohibits camping within 500 feet of K-12 schools year-round and has restricted camping near shelter facilities in its downtown core.⁸ Medford’s ordinance targets greenways, playgrounds, railroad tracks, areas under bridges not open to the public, and any sidewalk where camping would reduce the pedestrian path to less than 48 inches.⁹

Targeted restrictions like these are legally sustainable because they leave other public spaces available. A patchwork of zone-by-zone bans that adds up to a citywide prohibition would face the same vulnerability as a blanket ban.

Penalties are set by each municipality. Proposed penalties in some cities have ranged from $100 for a first offense to $250 for a second, with short jail terms possible for repeat violations. There is no statewide cap, which makes ORS 195.530’s reasonableness standard the primary check on aggressive enforcement.

Challenging an Ordinance

ORS 195.530 gives you two ways to push back. If you are charged with violating a camping ordinance, you can raise as an affirmative defense that the law is not objectively reasonable.² You do not need a separate lawsuit to use it; the defense is available in the underlying proceeding.

You can also file suit in circuit court for injunctive or declaratory relief. The case must be filed in the county that enacted the law. Attorney fees are available to a prevailing plaintiff, but only if the plaintiff was not pursuing a purely personal grievance and gave the city or county written notice at least 90 days before filing.² Miss the 90-day notice and you forfeit the fee award even if you win.

The statute does not create a right to sue for money damages.² A court can block an unreasonable ordinance, but compensation for lost or damaged property from an improper removal has to come through other legal theories, such as Fourth Amendment claims for unreasonable seizure or state tort law.

1
Supreme Court of the United States. City of Grants Pass v. Johnson (06/28/2024)
2
Oregon Revised Statutes. Oregon Code 195.530 – Noncamping Use of Public Property by Homeless Individuals
3
Oregon Revised Statutes. Oregon Code 195.505 – Elements of Camp Removal Policies; Unclaimed Personal Property; Notice
4
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 195 – Local Government Planning Coordination
5
Oregon Revised Statutes. Oregon Code 195.500 – Policy for Removal of Homeless Individuals Camping on Public Property
6
City of Gladstone Municipal Code. Gladstone Code 10.18 – Impounding Vehicles
7
City of Eugene. City-Supported Shelter Sites
8
Engage Hillsboro. Homelessness: Changes to Camping Rules
9
City of Medford. Medford Municipal Code 5.257 – Prohibited Camping, Lying, and Sleeping