Longtime Kensington resident Brenda Mosley was the first to raise her hand Wednesday night at a community meeting about Councilmember Quetcy Lozada’s bill banning mobile service providers in residential areas and some public spaces in the neighborhood.
Mosley echoed concerns residents have long raised about mobile providers distributing clothing, food, and other necessities: large crowds make it difficult to pass by, garbage and used needles get left behind, and abandoned crates of food attract rats.
“It’s the sight and the vision that bothers me – that our children have to go past on their way to school,” she said, adding that as someone who has been in recovery for 33 years, she also empathizes with people living in addiction.
Among the roughly 30 attendees, opinions were divided. 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.
“Living in Kensington means making compromises every day,” said Somerset resident Tess Donie, adding that Kensington residents are willing to compromise.
But some areas are overwhelmed with multiple mobile providers operating five days a week, Donie said, drawing people who sell drugs and increasing gun violence.
“I know sometimes people think neighbors, we’re just anti-harm reduction, or we don't have empathy, or we want it gone – it's not the truth,” she said. “It’s just we see what's happening every day, and it's not okay by any standard in the universe.”
While Donie said residents have had productive conversations with mobile providers like Prevention Point, Jefferson Health, and Temple Hospital, they’ve struggled with out-of-town church groups engaging in “charity tourism.” These groups, she said, often provide medical services without proper expertise and refuse to engage with residents.
“We often see folks who are struggling after receiving, say, wound care from a church volunteer,” she said. “Then, as residents, we have to respond, call an ambulance, and help out after they leave.”
Donie said everyone should be concerned about the quality of care provided on the street and that residents are asking for better coordination “so that we’re not dealing with this every single day, morning, noon, and night.”
Others at the meeting shared similar frustrations about how mobile providers operate in the neighborhood.
“I want my community to have a safe place, and my kids to have a safe place,” said Patrice Rogers. “But we have providers that come down that don't live in our neighborhoods or really don't care about our neighborhoods.”
Rogers wants mobile providers to move to one place, away from residential areas.
But others said that the accessibility of mobile providers, including on residential blocks, is critical to reaching the neighborhood’s most vulnerable people.
Theo Fountain, who spent two years unhoused in Kensington, credited mobile health care providers with helping him start his path to recovery.
“Its effectiveness comes from its accessibility,” Fountain said. “I sympathize with the people in this community. I apologize. I feel the weight of that guilt, and I understand their frustration. I implore you to recognize that because the bus was parked at Kensington and Allegheny, that's why I went to it.”
Mosley shared a hug with Fountain, while the person sitting next to him gave him pats of support.
Liba Judd, who lives near 4th Street and Lehigh Avenue, said healthcare vans should remain in residential areas to reach people with disabilities. Judd, who has epilepsy, recalled having a seizure at her front door when a nearby mobile care van spotted her and stepped in to help.
“I don't know what my life would look like if I had just been left there,” Judd said. “I'm very, very grateful that they were there to provide the service in a residential area.”
Jay Kailian, who works in harm reduction in Kensington, thanked community members for sharing their experiences and said frustration is “misplaced on people who are using these services” rather than the broken healthcare system.
Kailian said getting people into treatment or accessing services is difficult, even when they want help.
“A lot of times, people are denied treatment,” Kailian said, adding that as a patient at Episcopal Hospital in Kensington, they once waited six hours.“Other folks are waiting there for days. It's the system itself.”
Lozada, along with Councilmember Mark Squilla of the 1st District, state Rep. Jose Giral, and Mayor Cherelle Parker’s deputy legislative director Andre Del Valle, listened to community members’ concerns from the front of the room.
Sophia Dantzic, a volunteer with the mutual aid group Community Action Relief Project (CARP), challenged whether Lozada had considered housed residents who rely on mobile services, adding that the people who need mobile services the most are the least likely to be able to access community meetings.
“I’m not hearing much about the users of these services – the same group of people who most need mobile service providers are least likely to be able to make it to a” Dantzic said. “How are you planning to make sure their voices are heard?”
Lozada said that she has spoken with people who are living with addiction in Kensington and that the bill is not meant to cancel services. Instead, she said the bill is meant to address long-ignored complaints from residents and ensure services are provided “in a coordinated way, and not on anyone's doorstep.”
She also noted that her office is working on amendments to ensure providers serving the “general population” – such as St. Christopher’s dental outreach and mobile mammogram services – are not affected.
The bill was approved by Philadelphia City Council’s Licenses and Inspections committee in December. It hasn’t yet been introduced for a final vote in full council.
