The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted today to enhance the County’s long-standing Unsafe Camping Ordinance—first established in 1968—by adding new fire safety measures and protections for critical infrastructure. These updates aim to reduce wildfire hazards, protect private property from fire and pollution, and improve public safety for both housed and unhoused residents.

Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer successfully fought to require that shelter access would be offered before enforcement efforts, except in cases of imminent public safety or public health risks, such as a fire or the outbreak of a contagious disease. Given the discussion, she supported the sensible additions to fire safety and infrastructure protections while remaining committed to real solutions that ensure people have a safe place to go.

Addressing concerns that the ordinance placed an undue burden on the unhoused population, Lawson-Remer clarified that today’s vote sought to improve a long-standing law already on the books, centering shelter availability.

“It’s important to note that the unsafe camping ordinance in San Diego that we’re discussing today has been on the books since 1968,” noted Lawson-Remer. “This is a proposal to take a decades-old existing ordinance and make clarifications related to fire safety risk and shelter availability.”

County staff will revise and improve the existing ordinance based on today’s vote by the Board of Supervisors, and return to the Board in Spring of this year for final approval.