How should an HOA board handle a homeless encampment on common area?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 29, 2026

What an HOA board does about a homeless encampment on common area: who owns the land, safety, outreach, trespass notice in TX, FL and CO, belongings and cleanup.

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The short answer

Confirm the association owns the land before anyone does anything. A tent in the woods behind the pool is often on a city drainage easement or a utility strip, and then the job belongs to the city. If the land is the association's, call the police non-emergency line and ask for the homeless outreach team in the same call. Post trespass notice that meets your state's rules for open land, give written notice before any cleanup with a date on it, and pay a contractor to remove what is left. No board member or volunteer should confront anyone living there, pull down a tent or throw away belongings. This guide covers Texas, Florida and Colorado. Trespass law, city ordinances and your governing documents all vary, so read it as general education and have the association's attorney review your notice wording and the cleanup plan before you act.

Find out whose land it is

Pull the recorded plat and the county appraisal or property appraiser record for the parcel. Look for three things: the owner of record, any easement drawn across the area, and the parcel lines along creeks and ponds, which rarely match where the mowing stops. If the camp is on a city or county parcel, a drainage right-of-way or a utility corridor, report it to that owner in writing and keep the email. In Texas, Penal Code section 48.05 makes camping in a public place without consent from the managing officer or agency a Class C misdemeanor, and before citing anyone an officer must make a reasonable effort to point the person to a place where they can camp lawfully and contact an official or nonprofit that can offer services. In Florida, section 125.0231, added in 2024, bars counties and cities from allowing people to regularly camp or sleep on public property. A county resident or business owner who gives the local government written notice and 5 business days to fix the problem can sue for an injunction. Ask counsel whether the association or an individual owner should be the one to send that notice. Neither statute is written for land a private association owns. On association property, the police tool is criminal trespass.

Safety first, then two phone calls

Call 911 for a fire, a fight, a weapon or someone who looks badly hurt or in medical crisis. For everything else, call the police non-emergency line. Tell the dispatcher the association owns the parcel, you are an authorized officer of the board, and roughly how many people and tents are there. Ask whether the department keeps a trespass authorization form for private property and what it needs, such as the deed owner's legal name and a 24-hour contact. Ask the same dispatcher, or the city, whether an outreach team works your area. Some cities send outreach workers ahead of or alongside officers. If nobody can tell you, call 211, the national referral line run by local United Ways and other nonprofits, and ask for homeless outreach and shelter contacts for your county. Outreach matters for a practical reason. A citation tells a person where they cannot sleep. An outreach worker can offer a place where they can, and that is what ends the problem rather than moving it down the creek. Keep owners away from the camp while this plays out, and tell them so in writing.

Post notice that works on open land

Greenbelts and pond banks are rarely fenced, and each state treats unfenced land differently. Texas. Penal Code section 30.05 counts a sign on the property reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders, fencing designed to keep people out, or purple paint marks: vertical lines at least 8 inches long and 1 inch wide, with the bottom of each mark 3 to 5 feet off the ground, no more than 1,000 feet apart on land that is not forest land. Florida. Section 810.011(5)(a) defines posted land as signs no more than 500 feet apart along the boundary and at each corner, reading 'no trespassing' in letters at least 2 inches high with the owner's name, placed so they are clearly visible from outside the boundary. Section 810.09 then covers anyone who enters or stays after that notice or after being told directly. Colorado. CRS 18-4-201(3) says a person on unimproved, apparently unused land that is not fenced has permission to be there until notice is given in person by the owner or an authorized person, or by signs no more than 440 yards apart or at a readily identifiable entrance. A mowed greenbelt with a paved trail may not count as unimproved land, so post signs either way. Third degree criminal trespass under 18-4-504 is a petty offense. Some cities go further. Denver's section 38-86.2 bars camping on private property without the owner's express written consent. Check your city code for a similar ordinance and tell the officer if one applies.

What to do with belongings left behind

Treat everything at the site as someone's property until your attorney tells you otherwise. Texas, Florida and Colorado have no statute that gives a private association a set waiting period for items left on its land, so the board picks one with counsel, and a written date makes it defensible. Post a dated notice at the site and photograph it in place. Sample: 'This land is private property of Cedar Ridge Homeowners Association. Camping is not permitted. Items left here after 9 a.m. on March 14 will be removed. Identification, medication, and personal papers will be held at the association office for 30 days. Call 555-0142 to arrange pickup.' On the cleanup day, photograph the site before and after. Bag and label anything that looks personal or valuable, such as IDs, wallets, phones, medicine, photographs and legal papers, and log where each item went. Texas's camping statute shows the standard police are held to on public land: section 48.05(i) requires officers who arrest someone solely for camping to let the person remove their property or to store it and release it without a fee. A board that meets that standard will have a hard time being accused of taking someone's things.

Hire the cleanup out

Camp sites often hold used needles, human waste and propane cylinders, and none of that is a job for volunteers on a Saturday morning. Get two quotes from contractors who do biohazard or encampment cleanup, confirm their general liability and workers' compensation coverage, and have them name the association as additional insured. The FDA's guidance for sharps is to put them straight into a sharps disposal container, fill it no more than three-quarters, and dispose of it through a drop-off site, household hazardous waste program or mail-back service. The CDC's advice after a needlestick is to wash the wound with soap and water and get medical care immediately, so anyone who does get stuck needs to go to a doctor that day. After the cleanup, remove what made the spot attractive: cut back the brush screening it from the street, fix the fence line along the creek, and ask the landscaper to keep the area visible on every mowing cycle. Report the incident to the association's insurance agent if there was damage or a fire, even if you do not file a claim. Our guide on handling vandalism or graffiti on HOA common area covers police reports and insurance math for property damage.

A sample timeline and owner notice

Day 0: owner report. A board officer confirms the location from a distance and checks the plat and parcel record that evening. Day 1: police non-emergency call, trespass authorization form requested, outreach referral made. If the land is public, written report to the city or county the same day. Days 2 to 7: post compliant signs or paint marks and the dated notice about belongings, with photos. Next board meeting, or an emergency meeting if your bylaws allow: sample motion, 'Moved, that the president and treasurer are authorized to act for the association in giving trespass notice on common area parcels, signing police trespass authorization forms, and engaging a cleanup contractor for up to $3,500.' Notice date passes: contractor cleans the site with a board officer present, logs stored items and photographs everything. Thirty days later: walk the area again. Owner notice: 'A person has been camping on the greenbelt behind Birch Lane. The board has contacted police and a county outreach team. Please do not approach the site, remove anything or post photos online. Report new activity to the board at 555-0142, or call 911 for an emergency.'

Mistakes boards make

Sending volunteers to clear the camp, which puts people at risk of a needlestick or a confrontation and exposes the association to an injury claim. Throwing everything in a dumpster the first morning, including someone's ID and prescriptions. Posting 'No camping' signs that do not meet the spacing or wording rules for open land. Spending weeks on a parcel the city owns. Letting an owner's social media post with photos of a person become the board's public statement. Skipping the outreach call because the police will handle it, then watching the same person come back in two weeks. Waiting for the next quarterly meeting when your bylaws allow an emergency meeting or a written consent. Our guide on stopping trespassers from using the HOA pool or clubhouse covers the authorization motion and police paperwork in more detail.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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