The One Philly Kensington Blitz, launched by Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration, is intended to move block by block through the corridor with street cleaning, debris removal and crisis outreach. Since Sept. 12, city outreach workers have spoken with 1,400 people, the Office of the Managing Director said. The office reported placing 29 people in shelters, 16 in treatment programs and seven in safe haven — 52 placements, or about 3.7% of those contacted.

Frank Clark, who has been sleeping on Kensington’s streets, said he spent hours trying to find an opening in a treatment program without success. “There are no beds,” he said. “There’s plenty of money, but no beds.”

Police began clearing tents near Kensington Avenue on Oct. 2, according to notices posted around the neighborhood. The campaign has drawn praise from some local workers. Gabriel Franzesco, a cashier at Jonas Mini Market, said the increased police presence has made him feel safer. James Clark, a security worker at a Catholic Charities building, also said enforcement had helped, while arguing that addiction remained central to the neighborhood’s challenges.

But Sarah Laurel, founder of the recovery organization Savage Sisters, said her team spoke with 150 people on Oct. 2 and heard that they had been ordered to move without being offered city services. Laurel said the team saw street-cleaning crews but no housing or behavioral-health staff. The city’s statement did not address that account.

Laurel criticized what she described as a recurring cycle of highly visible cleanups without lasting changes in support for people living outdoors. “If nothing fundamentally changes for the people living here, we haven’t solved the problem,” she said.

Some residents said enforcement has shifted people rather than resolving their housing needs. Keirsten Savage, who has experienced homelessness in Kensington, said people move to another block or return after being displaced. Tori Mount, who has been homeless in Northeast Philadelphia for years, said she and her husband and two other couples are now staying in a Northern Liberties lot and have been told to leave. “Where should we go?” she asked.

The need for care is especially urgent amid changes in Philadelphia’s illicit drug supply. Medetomidine, a powerful sedative used in veterinary medicine, has been detected in the city’s drug supply since at least 2024 and has increasingly appeared alongside or instead of xylazine, often called “tranq.” Federal health officials warn that medetomidine can slow the heart and lower blood pressure; withdrawal can also cause dangerous complications. Naloxone does not reverse medetomidine’s effects, though it should still be given in a suspected overdose because it can reverse opioids such as fentanyl that may also be involved.

Savage said detoxification has become more difficult for her, and that withdrawal has sent her to intensive care. She recently started a methadone program and found a place to sleep, but said people in the neighborhood face substantial barriers to medical care. In 2025, City Council passed rules restricting mobile medical and harm-reduction services in Kensington to two designated locations.

Brother John Neuffer of St. Francis Inn, a neighborhood soup kitchen, said the most visible street encampments have become less common with increased enforcement. He also described pressure on the inn to keep sidewalks clear and said redevelopment has converted some vacant buildings that people had used for shelter into apartments, concentrating more people outdoors.

The competing accounts underscore the central question facing the city’s effort: whether cleaner streets and more enforcement will be matched by enough stable housing, health care and treatment for people displaced from the corridor.