A bill proposing to ban mobile service providers in residential areas and some public spaces within Philadelphia’s 7th District was approved by City Council’s Licenses and Inspections committee in a 3-1 vote on Monday, following two hours of contentious public testimony. 

The legislation will proceed to a full City Council reading and, if passed, will require Mayor Cherelle Parker’s approval. If signed, the bill would take effect after 90 days. The earliest council can take a final vote on the bill is Thursday, Dec. 12. 

During the public comment period, Councilmember Quetcy Lozada engaged in a heated exchange with Rev. Phillip Geliebter, the archdeacon for the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania and member of an outreach ministry in Kensington, who opposed the bill. Lozada waved a pile of letters in the air she said were written by students and educators from Conwell Middle School in support of the legislation. 

“We have prioritized harm reduction and the harm reduction way for a very long time, while ignoring an entire community of people,” she said. 

Geliebter expressed a willingness to collaborate with City Council on solutions that work for both housed and unhoused residents. 

“The items that were mentioned in the bill that are called for as being problems are, in fact, problems, but again, they are not going to go away if mobile services are stopped,” Geliebter said.  

Lozada first introduced the legislation in September. On Monday she cited complaints about litter, large crowds congregating around service providers, and an alleged lack of oversight of mobile services. 

Lozada said residents feel “overwhelmed, unheard and frustrated by the lack of communication and accountability” from mobile service providers. She said residents have complained to her office about difficulty running errands and walking their children to school and having “to fight people off of their steps.”  

“This isn't about denying critical services to those who need them,” she said. “It's about making sure that these services are provided in a responsible, sustainable, coordinated manner that considers the needs of everyone involved.”

Mobile ban supporters and opponents weigh in 

Roberto Rodriguez, commercial corridor manager for Impact Services, testified in support of the bill, stating that food distribution has had “devastating consequences,” including “litter that attracts rats to our environment, exacerbating the already difficult conditions in Kensington.” 

Similarly, Kensington resident Roxy Rivera and leader of Somerset Neighbors for Better Living, argued that mobile service hubs attract people selling drugs and “predatory” practices.   

Opponents, including healthcare providers and outreach workers, warned the legislation would harm people who are unhoused by restricting access to lifesaving medical and social services without addressing the root causes of the neighborhood’s challenges. 

Interim Health Commissioner Frank Franklin acknowledged the need to improve Kensington’s quality of life but said the bill would hinder efforts to achieve that goal. Franklin noted mobile healthcare services, which provide wound care and addiction treatment, have proven effective in improving outcomes for people with opioid use disorder (OUD). He also expressed openness to collaborating with Lozada’s office and service providers to “develop consensus” on addressing residents’ concerns. 

Others raised alarm over the bill’s potential impact on housing outreach efforts, including representatives from Project HOME, which operates a 24-hour hotline that connects people to shelter, housing, and other supportive services.  

Candice Player, Project HOME’s  vice president of advocacy, public policy and street outreach, said the legislation would prevent her teams from responding to calls in the 7th District. 

Kara Cohen, nurse practitioner and associate director of street outreach for the organization, said her street medicine team, which treats high blood pressure, untreated HIV, diabetes, offers pregnancy care, womens’ health care, wound care, and connects people to brick-and-mortar facilities, would lose access to hundreds of patients in Kensington.

“If we were not to be present, my patients will still have gaping wounds, but those wounds will not be covered and more infectious ... the way this bill is written now, it will likely increase death, but it will absolutely increase suffering,” Cohen said. 

Dr. Sam Stern of Temple’s mobile clinic urged increased collaboration between the city and mobile healthcare providers. 

“Mobile clinics are not the cause of this crisis, but rather a response to mitigate this crisis,” Stern said.

Catherine Abrams, a program coordinator for the Health Federation of Philadelphia, which hosts monthly meetings for mobile providers, said mobile services want to “do good in the community” and have made reducing litter a priority. She said the group is eager to collaborate with Lozada’s office, but their attempt to engage Lozada’s office has gone unanswered. 

Legislative changes and next steps

Since Lozada introduced the bill in September, it has been amended and expanded in some circumstances to include Councilmember Mike Driscoll’s 6th District, which includes some of Harrowgate and Port Richmond. 

The revised legislation prohibits service providers from operating on any residential block in the 7th District, within 50 feet of schools and recreation centers in both the 6th and 7th districts, and within 100 feet of another mobile service provider in those areas. It also introduces  a new definition for mobile service providers, specifically singling out wound care. 

The bill defines mobile service providers as a “person or entity that provides mobile medical services, such as wound care, or distributes tangible goods to three or more members of the public while operating a vehicle in the public right of way.” It exempts street vendors, emergency medical responders offering emergency medical services, and community mobile crisis response teams. 

The amendment also defines mobile medical services as “one or more health care practitioners ... who, from a vehicle, engage in the diagnosis or treatment of disease or any ailment of the human body.”

The Licenses and Inspections committee, chaired by Driscoll and vice-chaired by Councilmember Mark Squilla of the 1st District – both members of the Kensington Caucus – also includes council members Jamie Gauthier, Anthony Phillips, and Nicolas O’Rourke. O’Rourke cast the only dissenting vote, while Gauthier was not present for the vote. 

O’Rourke said that while he supports the bill’s goal of improving living conditions for residents, he believes it falls short of its intended purpose. “Philadelphians who choose to help those in need do not need more hurdles to jump through. They need our help,” O’Rourke said.  

Council will take a final vote Thursday on a second bill Lozada introduced in September that would mandate mobile providers to clean up litter within 50 feet of their vicinity. If passed, it will take effect 30 days after Parker signs it into law.

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