After the sweep

It's been about six months since Philadelphia first tried to break up encampments of homeless drug users. So what happens to the people who are forced to leave?

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A heroin encampment in a vacant lot on Kensington Avenue was cleared out by the city in May. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

A heroin encampment in a vacant lot on Kensington Avenue was cleared out by the city in May. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

It’s been about six months since Philadelphia first tried to break up homeless encampments in Kensington, where residents openly used heroin in a neighborhood that has become ground zero in the city’s opioid crisis. Critics of that tactic said the residents would only move elsewhere in the city or shoot up in more isolated places, leading to more overdose deaths. Have any of those criticisms panned out? On this episode of The Why, reporter Joel Wolfram talks about what happens to the people who are forced to clear out.

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