Legislation that would limit mobile medical and outreach services in Kensington will face a final City Council vote next after an amended version was approved Thursday.
Councilmember Quetcy Lozada delivered an impassioned speech in defense of her legislation after a line of detractors, including harm reduction and health providers, spoke out against it. They alleged it would "criminalize" compassion, limit access to lifesaving resources and "punish" the vulnerable.
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"I have seniors who are living with people who are unsheltered on their porches and threatened by those individuals if they call the police on them," Lozada countered. "Would you allow that in your house? Would you allow that on your property? Hell no. Hell no! And so, why should my residents?"
Lozada has said she designed the bill to protect her constituents who have homes in Kensington – which has one of the largest open-air drug markets in the country – from the daily trauma of witnessing drug use, open wounds, as well as "nuisance behavior," litter and safety issues she says people congregating for mobile services aggravate.
People who provide mobile services say they are essential for preventing the spread of infectious disease, feeding and clothing unsheltered people, and connecting people to drug treatment and medical services they otherwise might not access.
A majority of council adopted amendments tweaking the bill, which was introduced seven months ago. Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke, members of the liberal Working Families Party, voted against the bill.
The bill, which is up for a final vote Thursday, restricts medical mobile providers that distribute medications for opioid use disorder, offer free HIV testing and other services to a city-maintained lot at 265 E. Lehigh Ave. The lot is adjacent to a center where police take people for medical evaluation after they are picked up in sweeps. They are then sent to the new Wellness Court. Other locations may be determined by Mayor Cherelle Parker.
Medical mobile services also would be allowed to operate between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. on East Allegheny Avenue between Kensington Avenue and F Street. Lozada said she chose those blocks, because they are not residential and businesses there are closed during those times.
Other mobile services, such as groups that distribute food, clothing and harm reduction supplies, would be able to operate anywhere in Kensington, but not for longer than 45 minutes before moving to a new location at least 1,000 feet away.
Groups who do not abide by these rules would be subject to $1,000 fines. Three or more fines would preclude mobile services groups from being able to obtain annual permits now required to operate in Kensington.
When Lozada introduced the original bill in December, it primarily restricted mobile services from operating on residential streets and near schools. Lozada held the bill for seven months to get input from stakeholders at community meetings and private sessions with harm reduction and health care providers. Everyone involved with mobile services was invited to the meetings, Lozada said.
But leaders of The Everywhere Project, a harm reduction group that hosts a large weekly meal sites in Kensington and Center City, and does mobile outreach, said they were not included in the roundtables. They said Lozada's bill unfairly singles out people with substance use disorders and mental health issues who may also be unsheltered. The mobile services that outreach organizations provide are essential to helping people existing on the edge, they added.
People mistakenly think that the services the group provides "are only for people who are unsheltered, using drugs, have mental health issues, have warrants and things like that," Jen Shinefeld, co-founder of The Everywhere Project, said in an interview. "Our meal site … is for the community."
In addition to people who are unsheltered and people who use drugs, people with families come regularly to get food from The Everywhere Project's meal sites to bring back to their homes in Kensington and throughout the city, Shinefeld said.
"And I think it's also a misunderstanding that only people who are unsheltered are using these medical services," she said, adding that some residents from homes in Kensington access medication for opioid use disorder, free HIV testing and other medical care from mobile vans.
Dr. Sam Stern, who works with a mobile service provider, said at Thursday's council meeting that the bill would "force" people "to leave or mobile providers to leave areas in greatest need of outreach and services, effectively isolating an already marginalized population."
Prevention Point Philadelphia, a nonprofit public health organization with a longtime location on Kensington Avenue that also does mobile outreach, declined an interview. But the lead executive officer, Silvana Mazzella, expressed a variety of concerns about the bill at the April 24 city council meeting, including about the 45-minute rule.
"To only be able to provide medical care for 45 minutes would barely allow a clinic to see one to two patients," Mazzella said. "It wouldn't allow for time to do all of the other referrals to additional types of medical care or social services, potentially employment linkage or something else."
Harm reduction and medical mobile services providers also have expressed confusion and concern about the permitting process. The bill leaves it to the mayor's office, in coordination with Lozada, to iron out the details.
The new regulations would take effect 60 days after the legislation is approved.