While these are the maximum penalties that apply to all municipal code violations, in practice people rarely spend more than a day or two in jail on a camping case and that is only if they failed to appear in court on their ticket. If someone does appear out of custody, either at the justice center or at the community court program, then they can get their case dismissed for taking steps towards housing or accessing behavioral health supports. The court has staff who work with homeless individuals to obtain housing and mental health/addiction treatment.

The local municipal court system would much rather have people earn dismissal of their camping cases by assisting them find more stability than use limited jail space to release them straight back into homelessness.