An encampment in the city’s Kensington neighborhood is gone. City officials say it’s in an effort to get the people who are unhoused and have substance use disorders the help they need. But now, many residents are wondering how long this will last and what will happen next. NBC10’s Rosemary Connors has the latest.
About an hour before it was expected to begin, city workers and members of the Philadelphia Police Department started clearing an encampment of about 75 people living in tents along the sidewalk on Kensington Avenue, in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood on Wednesday.
Though it was scheduled to start at 8 a.m., workers with leaf blowers and street sweepers began moving along the street just after 7 a.m. as police blocked the street in a move that comes as part of Mayor Cherelle Parker's plan to improve the neighborhood.
The encampment was dismantled after the City of Philadelphia issued a 30-day encampment resolution notice and posted signs in the area ahead of closing Kensington Avenue from East Orleans Street to Allegheny Avenue in both directions on Wednesday morning as the effort got underway.
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Officials planned to continue the effort until 3 p.m. on Wednesday but they finished closer to 10 a.m.
As the clean up started, Brian Parkhill, of Parkhill Recovery Solution's Outreach For The Lost: Kensington program, said many of those in the encampment have already left the area ahead of Wednesday morning.
"I've been here since about 6 a.m. The police presence showed up pretty quickly and it seems like the addicts have gone into the side streets already," he said. "Our main goal today is to get as many people into recovery as possible."
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Along with getting treatment for those who need it, Parkhill said that outreach workers are also hoping to help reconnect those living on the streets with loved ones who may not have seen them due to their struggles with addiction.
"We are down here all the time trying to look for people and the families are hurting so bad looking for their loved ones," Parkhill told NBC10's Siobhan McGirl on Wednesday. "My phone's was blowing up this morning because, you know, families want to know where their loved one is."
Janette Alvelo, a Kensington resident, said that she appreciated the effort, though she worried that unless there are follow up actions after Wednesday, those struggling with addiction may just return.
"I think this is a good start. They will get the area clean. Kids can pass through here and go to school," she said. "Once they clean up here, they are going to find somewhere else to go."
At about 10 a.m., Philadelphia's Director of Public Safety, Adam Geer, said that, by the end of the clean up 36 people -- including those contacted ahead of the day -- accepted treatment.
Also, later in the day, city officials said as many as 59 people who were in and around the encampment accepted treatment, care and/or housing services -- including 19 people who were connected with services during the encampment clear out on Wednesday morning.
Geer also said, just as he was about to speak to members of the press, another individual approached outreach workers looking for support.
"That individual, right now, is being spoken to by a team of our professionals to be assessed for his housing needs," said Geer.
And, he said, the clear out effort was completed before 10 a.m.
"We are done, we are through that," he said.
He noted that the clean up was the eighth similar clean up that the city has done.
Following the morning effort, Geer said teams are now working beyond the encampment area, looking to engage with anyone who may have left the encampment area before -- or as -- it was being cleared.
He also said teams would be in the area tomorrow and "the day after that [and] the day after that."
"We will have resources in the area making sure it doesn't return to what it was," Geer said.
Through the course of the morning, Geer said there were no major incidents. Geer also said that, for the next 72 hours, if anyone returns to the area to set up camp again, it will be immediately removed.
City officials have said they plan to provide more information and results of the day's clean out later in the day.
Preparing for Wednesday's effort
In the lead up to Wednesday's clean up effort, some have been critical of the plan, with some who work in the community expressing concerns that the move is being done without enough planning for what will happen to those facing addiction or experiencing homelessness once they are usher out of the encampment.
"Keeping in mind that I understand that they want to clean up the area, these are humans that we are talking about. And pushing them around and herding them around and saying you need to go to jail or treatment, and we can’t even accommodate that," Megan Cohen, who runs the nonprofit The Grace Project, told NBC10 ahead of Wednesday's clean up effort.
The city has said that it has sent outreach teams to this area, offering resources and services for those there, over the course of the last 30 days.
One individual who lives in the encampment area told NBC10's Aaron Baskerville that they are concerned they will have nowhere else to go after the city moves in.
“We need more than just rehab. We need some type of place to go after rehab," one individual told NBC10. "We need some type of job placement, we need some type of housing.”
However, city officials said that some of those in the encampment are expected to go into treatment centers and other housing that may be in the Kensington area or other parts of the city where there are treatment beds available or some will just go into shelters for people living homeless.
Others, officials said in a statement ahead of Wednesday, will just move and officials do not expect anyone will be arrested or sent to jail as the encampment is dismantled.
In a statement, officials said that members of the encampment will be forced to move, but they will also be able to decide what they want to do after the encampment is cleared.
"They are part of the decision making here – we do not mandate anything. They just need to move their tents and stop living on the two blocks," officials said in a statement.
In Philadelphia, it is a policy to connect people living in an encampment with a shelter or treatment center, but they do not have to accept it.
City officials estimate that 700 people are homeless in the neighborhood but only about 75 people were living in the targeted area.
Along with moving people out, workers will be cleaning and sanitizing sidewalks as well.
The push to improve Kensington
Wednesday's cleaning effort is just the most recent step that the city has taken in an ongoing effort to make an impact to improve the city's poorest neighborhood.
Since her first day in office, Mayor Parker made Kensington a focus for her administration. And, she's not alone, City Councilmembers have banded together to create a caucus aimed at improving the neighborhood.
Also, earlier this year, city council passed an 11 p.m. curfew for Kensington businesses not licensed to be open 24 hours.
Mayor Parker's first budget also dedicated $100 million for triage facilities where drug users taken off the streets can get treatment -- though, as reported by NBC10 newsgathering partner KYW Newsradio, she has called an end to using city funds in order to operate needle exchange programs.
And, these efforts, at least initially, have seen some support from Kensington residents who are looking for ways to turn the neighborhood around.
But, along with this push, the Kensington Planning Process -- a collaborative of residents, organizations, and civic groups -- are working on a plan to use millions opioid settlement funds to improve the community.
Still, just as those who work with the community of those facing addiction and homelessness in Kensington have expressed concerns ahead of Wednesday's clean out, some nonprofit organizations worry that these changes could have negative impacts on a community already struggling with so many other issues.
This is a breaking news story. It will be updated as new information becomes available.
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