Editor's Note (May 8, 2024, 8:18 a.m.): The clearing of Kensington Avenue began earlier than expected Wednesday morning. Click here for developing details.
A Kensington homeless encampment will be dismantled after the city of Philadelphia issued a 30-day encampment resolution notice that takes effect on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, May 8, Kensington Avenue from East Orleans Street to Allegheny Avenue will be closed in both directions so city outreach teams can enter the encampment to “work on a planned encampment resolution,” according to a statement from city officials.
“The temporary closure is needed to ensure the safety of city outreach teams as they engage individuals during the final day of encampment resolution on Wednesday, May 8, during which individuals residing at the encampment have been notified to dismantle any tents and structures that pose public health and safety hazards and obstruct sidewalk passage,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
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The closure will take place between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.
During the closure, drivers will be detoured to Frankford Avenue and other nearby streets.
The closure of this encampment marks the end of a month-long process that started on April 4, when the city posted a 30-day notice on the 3000 and 3100 blocks of Kensington Avenue.
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The city says outreach teams and social services have been engaging with the individuals residing in the encampment since the notice went up to ensure low-barrier housing, services and connections to treatment are made available.
So far, it’s teams say 28 people went to shelters or treatment.
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.
“This is a longstanding issue and this is not a one size fits all solution, so I think everyone needs to be at the table,” Rosalind Pichardo, with Operation Save Our City, said. “It can’t be an opinion from a politician, it has to be the fact of a physician and a medical professional to deal with the crisis that we’re having here.”
City officials estimate that 700 people are homeless in the neighborhood but only about 75 people are living in the targeted area.
How residents and unhoused individuals feel about the plan
Residents and people living on the street say the city's plan to clear the Kensington corridor of homeless encampments will only move the problem elsewhere.
"I can't go through this without some type of help, and it needs to be more than just rehab," Aaron, an unhoused person living on the streets of Kensington said. “We need some type of place to go after rehab we need, we need some type of job placement, we need some type of housing.”
Aaron said he has lived on the streets of Kensington since 2005 and said he's never seen the corridor as bad as it is now.
Aaron believes Mayor Parker's plan could give people struggling with addiction a kick in the right direction.
"A lot of time we procrastinate in what we’re trying to do. You know what I mean? I know I need help, but I know I need a push sometimes," he said.
City workers who will be out on Wednesday are aiming to sweep approximately seven tents containing 10 to 12 individuals, each spanning two blocks.
“Even though they say they’re going to move them somewhere, not all of them are going to stay away. They’re going to eventually come back, they always come back," Casio Rodriguez, a Kensington resident, said.
An outreach worker with Operation Save Our City believes the city's plan is going to distribute the issue in neighboring areas.
"In the beginning they’re going to go to the side streets. They’re going to go right to the cut where it's not the main corridor," Pichardo said. "And then folks who are living on the side streets are going to experience what the Ave. has always experienced."
City councilmember Mark Squilla has heard the worries about the encampment showing up in other areas of Philadelphia.
"I don’t think you’ll see a Kensington pop up in some other neighborhood like the fear is, but you’ll see some displacement of folks in other areas," Squilla said.
Megan Cohen runs the non-profit The Grace Project which does outreach in Kensington weekly.
"I think that it’s being done prematurely. I think the first step should be creating more resources for the individuals out there. Posting signs saying, hey we’re going to kick you out of what you consider to be your home, isn’t a resource," Cohen said.
Cohen, who once lived on the streets of Kensington and fought through addiction, said she has major concerns about the city’s encampment resolution.
"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," Cohen said.
The city did say no one from the encampment will be arrested or sent to jail.
During Wednesday's closure, the media will not be permitted to enter the area as the encampment will be cleared. City officials claim this is intended to "protect the privacy" of those involved.
"We are not encouraging the media to cover the encampment since the outreach workers are trying to protect the privacy of individuals with whom they are engaging. We also would like to minimize distractions and interference as outreach workers support the resolution," city officials said in a note to members of the media.
This is a part of Mayor Cherelle Parker’s plan to improve the Kensington neighborhood, which she laid out in her first 100 days plan.
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