Philly City Council passes restrictions on mobile van services in Kensington, bill heads to mayor’s desk

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A bill that would create regulations and restrict where mobile vans can provide health care, harm reduction supplies and other services in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood is headed to the mayor’s desk to become law.

It concludes months of emotional, tension-filled town halls, committee meetings and negotiations among community residents and outreach workers who remain at odds on how to best address the neighborhood’s homelessness and addiction crises as well as quality of life issues.

At City Hall on Thursday, council members gave final approval of the legislation in a 13-to-3 vote. It was a victory for primary sponsor Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, whose District 7 includes Kensington.

“Things will change in Kensington,” she said. “This legislation is just the beginning of difficult decisions that we are going to have to make in order to take our community back, in order to make our community a healthy one.”

Mobile van providers refers to groups that support people out on the street who may be homeless, living with mental health issues or suffering from opioid use disorder. Providers offer naloxone overdose reversal medication, wound care, water, food, clothing and other services, as well as referrals to treatment and social services.

In recent years, mobile vans have been highly concentrated in Kensington, a low-income neighborhood that is home to a large open-air illegal drug market.

Longtime residents and homeowners in support of the bill claim that the mobile service operations have led to more litter and discarded needles on their streets, exposed their children to people using drugs and overdosing in public, and broader safety concerns.

During the council meeting, Delilah Garcia, a fourth grader at Gloria Casarez Elementary School, testified with about a dozen fellow students before a packed room about the conditions in her neighborhood.

“When I walk to and from school, I see trash all over our streets. And it’s not just that. I also see glass, needles and other things that make our neighborhood unsafe and dirty,” she said. “We want kids to be able to enjoy their lives and be able to play outside. We want to enjoy the fresh air. Because of the lack of safety, most kids only use electronics. We want to live safe and careful. Not scared and careless.”

The bill would require medical and nonmedical mobile vans and service providers to get specific permits from the city Department of Public Health or another agency to operate in Kensington. The permits must be renewed every 12 months.

The legislation also restricts where mobile services can be provided. Permitted locations include 265 E. Lehigh Ave. during city designated times and along E. Allegheny Avenue between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Nonmedical mobile providers cannot stay in the same location for longer than 45 minutes and must not relocate within 1,000 feet of any spots they have already been stationed at each day.

All groups are prohibited from providing services on residential streets, near schools and or in other spaces throughout the neighborhood.

They could be fined up to $1,000 for violating time, location and permit requirements.

“It’s easy for folks to have an opinion when they are on the outside looking in and don’t live, see or go through it day in and day out. But we do,” said Kensington resident Xiomara Santiago, who also works in Lozada’s office. “Why do my children have to live with these conditions? Why do my neighbors, schools and local businesses have to wake up to trash, feces, urine and used syringes on their front steps?”

Critics of the bill, which include many health care and harm reduction workers, called the measure punitive and overly harsh for organizations and groups trying to do street outreach.

Paul Berlet, a harm reduction worker, said making it more difficult for mobile van providers to help people on the street “puts their lives in jeopardy.”

“No one on this council is qualified to decide when and where people receive medical care,” he said. “No one here should be determining when our unhoused neighbors are able to receive life sustaining supplies like food and water. When you block outreach workers and mobile service providers from doing their job, you are not solving a problem.”

He joined others in opposing the bill, warning the council of the potential impact on a vulnerable group of people and the broader message it sends to children and others.

“This is what you tell our children: that if you need help, you are to be feared. You are to be dehumanized. You are to starve and dehydrate,” said Scout Gilson, who is in recovery from opioid use. “And those who dare offer you aid in those most vulnerable moments are to be punished and criminalized.”

The mobile van restrictions and regulations do not apply to emergency medical responders, community mobile crisis response teams dispatched by 988 centers, emergency overdose response providers, infectious disease teams, and units providing vaccinations, pediatric care, veterinary medicine, dental care, vision services or mammograms.

Mayor Cherelle Parker is expected to sign the legislation. The changes would take effect 60 days after becoming law.