PHILADELPHIA, PA
Some say you haven’t really visited Philadelphia until you’ve been to North Philly. Some North Philly residents say you haven’t visited North Philly until you’ve visited the Kensington section. Even though Kensington is not technically a part of North Philly, it is representative of the major toll heroin and crack addiction have had on the North Philly section of the city. Some heroin addicts have set up permanent residence in homemade encampments. Others, are not heroin users at all. They’re just people who may be down on their luck at the moment and have no other place to go. Either way, the city has cracked down on the residents of the encampments and removed them from the area.
Action News On 6 ABC (@6abc) reports, A mass eviction took place in the Kensington section of Philly this afternoon as the city forced people to pack up and move out of the homeless encampments where drug use is rampant. Philadelphia leaders have promised to help transition those residents to new housing or move them to treatment centers.
Street sweepers drove through two of the encampments sites at Lehigh & Tulip Streets this morning. The people who made a home on the underpasses had to make a decision to move to another street to sleep or go to housing provided by the city. Some leaving the camp protested the removal of encampments saying the city’s plan was not well thought out. Others left with volunteers as they headed to city-provided housing.
NAYZE MEDIA 