Restrictions on Kensington outreach services won’t be enforced yet
City officials say they are working to set up a permitting system that’s required by the new law.
Philadelphia’s controversial new law restricting mobile medical clinics and other outreach services from operating in parts of Kensington will not be enforced immediately, said city officials, who are still working to set up a permitting system that is required in the law.
The law requires mobile medical clinics and other outreach operations that hand out food and other supplies in the neighborhood to get a permit from the city. It also restricts the hours and locations where clinics and outreach organizations can operate.
The law is set to go into effect Monday, but it was never city officials’ intent to have a permitting system set up by then, said Sharon Gallagher, the senior director of communications for the managing director’s office.
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“While MDO has been working with a wide range of City departments to get the preliminary work started, all pieces of the process cannot be fully developed until the ordinance is officially in effect,” she wrote in an email.
The law follows renewed focus on Kensington, a working-class neighborhood at the center of the city’s opioid crisis where Parker has pledged to improve conditions.
Here’s an overview of the law and how the city plans to enforce it:
How does the mobile services law work?
The law applies to the 7th Council District, represented by City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, who first introduced a bill to restrict the operation of mobile medical services last year.
The original version of the bill barred clinics from parking on residential streets, outside schools, or within 100 feet of one another. A revised version, which passed in May, imposed stricter restrictions on clinics.
Under the law, mobile medical clinics can operate during city-designated hours at a parking lot at 265 E. Lehigh Ave., which is maintained by the city. They can also offer services overnight, between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., on East Allegheny Avenue between Kensington Avenue and F Street.
Nonmedical outreach groups can operate on the street in Kensington during the day, but cannot stay in the same place for more than 45 minutes.
Both medical and nonmedical groups must have permits to operate in the 7th District. Anyone who violates the law could face fines up to $1,000.
What was the reaction to the law?
Kensington residents have complained for years about people who receive services from mobile clinics lingering on their blocks, sometimes sitting on steps and refusing to leave.
At a December hearing, Roberto Rodriguez, a commercial corridor manager for Impact Community Development Corp. in Kensington, said mobile service providers need to be better regulated and are creating a “serious public health hazard” for small businesses and residents.
Defending their work, outreach workers and advocates in the neighborhood say mobile clinics are designed to serve people with addiction who may be unable or unwilling to visit traditional medical offices because of the stigma surrounding addiction.
Mobile clinics, advocates say, are a crucial piece of outreach to a population at risk of overdoses, blood-borne diseases, and serious wounds caused by the animal tranquilizer xylazine, which is often added to illicit opioids.
Restricting addiction services in the neighborhood will not entice people with addiction to leave, supporters have warned City Council members, but will instead cause them to suffer more visibly on the streets.
“[The mobile services law] is going to create further barriers for getting the care people need. And it’s going to result in kids seeing more gruesome instances of human suffering,” said Kelsey Leon, a member of the harm reduction and mutual aid group Community Action Relief Project.
Why are city officials not immediately enforcing the law?
The city could not fully set up a permitting process until the law went into effect, Gallagher said. Officials are working to create a regulatory process but have not announced a deadline for the law to go into effect.
“The regulatory process has multiple steps and will take some time to finalize,” Leah Uko, a spokesperson for Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, said in a statement.
The city plans to make details available to providers with enough time for permit applications before it will begin enforcement.
“I am confident that the Parker Administration is working diligently to develop regulations and a process for providers to apply to receive the permits needed,” Lozada said in a statement.
How are service providers reacting?
Before city officials clarified their plans, some advocates said they had received few answers about permits and had worried they would be fined if they conducted outreach in the neighborhood next week.
“We’re moderately relieved that it’s not going to be enforced,” Leon said. “But we have to wait and see what it’s going to look like on the ground.”
Leon said she and other advocates have already been reprimanded by police for handing out supplies like water bottles and snacks in the neighborhood. CARP does not offer medical services, but does accompany people with addiction to doctor’s appointments and hospital visits.
And many harm-reduction groups do not limit their work to people with addiction, Leon said, offering food and clothing to permanent residents in Kensington as well.
“I don’t think this bill is good or should exist. But any delay — we’ll take it. I think it speaks more to the ineptitude of the policymaking,” she said. “This is not going to actually improve conditions in Kensington for anybody.”
How does the law fit into the city’s broader strategy for Kensington?
City officials have also limited operations at brick-and-mortar medical clinics in the neighborhood in the last year.
Lozada intervened to end the lease of the outreach group Savage Sisters, which is now operating from a van, last year.
Parker has pulled city funding for the syringe exchange at the public health nonprofit Prevention Point, which is headquartered in Kensington.
And last year, the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment voted to bar the organization, which also offers a number of health services, from hosting more than one medical provider at a time. Prevention Point has appealed the decision, and the organization is continuing to host multiple providers on-site until a decision is made in the appeal.
Staff writer Jake Blumgart contributed to this article.