Housing and homelessness in Kensington, Philadelphia. Reporting on affordability, evictions, encampments, gentrification and shelter access in the neighborhood.
Parker’s spending plan includes $216 million over five years on the “wellness ecosystem,” mostly for the Riverview Wellness Village, a 336-bed recovery housing facility for people who have completed between 30 and 90 days of substance use treatment.
Accountability
The committee wanted to know three things: how the city-funded programs are spending their money, how effective those programs have been, and whether they need to change.
Accountability
While there was some tension, there were also moments of empathy, vulnerability, and shared struggle. The conversation was not black and white, with many landing somewhere in the middle.
Accountability
The city’s new Kensington “wellness court” has led to nine arrests since its launch last week, but questions about its effectiveness remain as two participants left treatment and outreach workers are now searching for them.
Housing & Shelter
For more than 80 years, health experts, scholars, and community advocates have emphasized the dire need for better access to physicians and health centers for Puerto Rican Philadelphians.
Arts & Culture
The Kensington Engagement Center is a hub for community connection and better resource access as part of the organization’s “Co-Creating Kensington” process.
Accountability
The multiphase plan for opening Riverview will begin by offering 336 beds for people leaving short-term inpatient treatment programs.
Immigration
Access to green spaces have been shown to improve mental health and decrease neighborhood violence.
Accountability
The clinic provides HIV and Hepatitis-C testing and treatment, medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), wound care, STI testing and treatment, and more.
Accountability
The $1.3 billion proposal, which would move the team from South Philadelphia’s Stadium District to Center City, is scheduled for a third City Council committee vote on Wednesday afternoon.
Accountability
Residents are questioning whether the increased enforcement has improved quality of life in their neighborhood.
Accountability
The legislation will proceed to a full City Council reading and, if passed, will require Mayor Cherelle Parker’s approval.
Accountability
The City of Philadelphia is challenging a state trust’s decision to disapprove $3.4 million in opioid settlement funds earmarked for Kensington.
Accountability
City officials cleared two encampments near Interstate 95 on Friday, along Allegheny and Westmoreland avenues.
Housing & Shelter
Kensington resident Gwen Collier-Jefferson advocated for NKCDC to open a polling place due to challenges people reported finding the previous location.
Accountability
The trust ruled in favor of funding for Kensington schools, parks, and housing, but against home repairs and small business support.
Accountability
Community leaders and residents believe funding environmental conditions that will improve the lives of families and children is a step toward repairing the harms the open-air drug market has caused the neighborhood.
Accountability
The Office of Prison Oversight would amend Philadelphia’s Home Rule Charter, which is like the city’s constitution.
Accountability
State Sens. Greg Rothman and Christine Tartaglione, along with most of the 13-member opioid settlement trust, voted “no” to Philadelphia’s spending on Kensington eviction prevention, home repairs, and improvements to schools and parks. The trust will hear the city’s appeal on Oct. 3.
Clean Streets
The new Pennsylvania Adult and Teen Challenge (PAATC) center is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with plans to eventually offer nighttime hours.
Accountability
Police arrested 34 people for “narcotics violations,” including drug paraphernalia and possession, as well as outstanding warrants
Accountability
The cleanup was organized by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) “in conjunction with staff from the City of Philadelphia,” according to a PennDOT spokesperson.
Accountability
During an exclusive interview on WHYY’s live talk show Studio 2, Mayor Cherelle Parker discussed policing Kensington’s open-air drug market and said the May 8 encampment sweep didn’t go exactly as planned.
Clean Streets
Researchers are studying whether therapeutic writing exercises and cash incentives help motivate women with a history of drug use to continue taking PrEP and decrease their illicit drug use.
