Kensington, a neighborhood in Philadelphia renowned for its massive open-air drug market and severe substance abuse running rampant through its streets, has been the center of attention for the Philadelphia City Council as of late.
On February 26, 2025, the City Council had a special committee meeting on Kensington, detailing the current programs set in place to assist in breaking down the present—and seemingly unmanageable—issues in the neighborhood. Drug use, as widely spread as it is in the North East region of the city, has been difficult to reign in. The city cannot lock up every individual suffering from abuse. Councilwoman Quetcy Lozada of the seventh district remarked that the city “cannot simply arrest its way out of this situation in a matter that punishes people for their addiction instead of treating it.”
In the past, the city’s response to those inhabiting the area was to dismantle their encampment, a place many users call home. These cleanups are not sufficient and are not fruitful—they simply disperse the residents from one place to another, stopping nothing and fixing nothing.
Residents of Kensington, both those suffering from addiction and those living there, have been dealt a bad hand. The community is now unsafe, and law enforcement is unable to handle the rising drug problem appropriately. The resolution discussed during this meeting, resolution 240896, outlines the proposed solutions the diversion programs offer. Diversion programs are constructed to help the massive drug problem Philadelphia is experiencing and have found success in other cities in similar positions.
The hearing on Wednesday was dedicated to investigating the features of the program brought before the council and looking into what has and has not been beneficial.
Diversion programs are designed to both support people in active addiction in reaching sobriety and help improve the area. Diversion is a post-arrest intervention primarily run by the Kensington Wellness Center and Court to help those detained who are suffering from addiction. The council heard Adam Geer, the Public Safety Director of the Office of Public Safety in Philadelphia. His testimony outlined his Police Assisted Diversion (PAD) program and provided the benefits of his program thus far.
PAD is a program that works with law enforcement and was created to steer those arrested out of the criminal justice system. Typically, those who utilize this program are victims of arrest for charges related to drug use and possession. PAD intercepts and, for those who accept the program’s services, links the individual to resources for housing, rehab, and government assistance programs such as food stamps and transportation.
PAD also assists with outstanding court warrants and debts, helping reduce the complications many face when looking for employment and housing assistance. Those who do not choose to accept PAD are then arrested and go into the system.
Geer describes these aspects and emphasizes how beneficial a program such as PAD is in a city with as notorious a drug problem as Philadelphia, stating that it is necessary to implement an “array of improvement tools along with innovative new tools.” Of the 1330 individuals offered this program, 581 have accepted its services, a success rate of just under half. The primary zip codes seeing these intervention methods are 19134- Kensington and Port Richmond, 19124- Frankford and Lawncrest, and 19107- City Center.
As of 2023, 35 percent of residents in the diversion program have come from those neighborhoods. PAD recognizes that the most significant obstacle to being eligible for the resources it offers is a lack of proper identification and paperwork to be considered for these initiatives. PAD also provides assistance in reaching a solution for the individual and getting them into the system.
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PAD is not a complete solution. Geer mentions that the program only offers two attempts for those in the diversion program. After the second failure, they are no longer deemed eligible for its services.
According to the PAD website dashboard, the program has completed 3170 arrest diversions and has given 726 social referrals to the services previously mentioned. While the diversion program is not a complete solution to this notable issue, it is making headway in developing progress toward a long-term fix.
