Philadelphia to clear homeless encampment at ‘open-air drug market’

The city of Philadelphia will clear a homeless encampment in the Kensington section of the city this week. The area is commonly known as the East Coast’s largest “open-air drug market” and the “center of Philadelphia’s opioid crisis.”

Clearing the encampment in the section of the city was a campaign promise of recently-elected Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker. It was an initiative specified in Parker’s 100 Day Plan to address the violence associated with the rampant illicit drug use and homelessness in the area. 

“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 city announced in a press release.

The Kensington section of Philadelphia has been plagued by the negative ramifications of the  illegal billion-dollar opioid trade running rampant, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Gun violence and open drug use are commonplace. Between 2015 and 2022, the city reported 1,270 fatal overdoses just in the Kensington area alone. During that same timeframe, there were more than 1,400 shootings in the same area, according to reports.

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Many of the residents of the homeless encampment are reportedly drug addicts. Recent estimates revealed that there are at least 675 homeless people in just this one section of the city, with many city officials believing that number is significantly lower than the real amount, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The city’s efforts to remove the encampment will be the final stage of a “month-long encampment resolution process” that began in April, the CBS News reported. 

Parker’s initiatives are an integral part of her declaration to make the City of Brotherly Love the nation’s “safest, cleanest, greenest, big city.”