An aggressive crackdown in Kensington | Morning Newsletter

Good morning, Philly. It’s another maybe-rainy, partly sunny day with temps in the high 70s.

Ahead of the Parker administration’s planned clearance of Kensington Avenue on Wednesday, drug users in the neighborhood say they’ve experienced intensifying police harassment since the new mayor took office.

And a new Pennsylvania program is helping first-time home buyers who never thought they’d be able to own because of their student loan debt.

Here’s what to know to start your day.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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In early April, around 100 days after her swearing in, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration began to make good on its promise to crack down on Kensington’s open-air drug market by boosting both social services outreach and police presence in the neighborhood.

The surge came ahead of the administration’s first clearance of a Kensington Avenue homeless encampment, planned for this Wednesday.

Increased tension: While encampment clearances and police activity in the area aren’t new, the tenor of recent interactions with law enforcement is markedly more aggressive since Parker took office, the people most directly affected by them say.

“They feel emboldened,” said one person who described being beat and thrown by officers during a recent encounter. “They know they can get away with it. This is an opportunity to take whatever their feelings and thoughts are about us, and to act on it.”

Displacement concerns: The city estimates 675 people are homeless in the neighborhood. Some who spoke to The Inquirer said police interactions are encouraging them to leave Kensington for areas where they feel they’ll be safer from harassment, such as Center City or other nearby neighborhoods, under overpasses, or on SEPTA platforms.

Uncertain care: The shift comes as city officials are making an effort to connect people who are homeless to treatment and transitional housing — but also, as community-based harm-reduction organizations have been cut off from offering services like food, shelter, and wound care.

Reporters Samantha Melamed and Max Marin spoke to more than 20 drug users as well as neighborhood leaders and experts about the crackdown’s effects.

P.S. On Monday, City Councilmembers sharply criticized top officials of the mayoral administration over a lack of details about their long-term plan for Kensington.

“I never thought it was something I could do.”

That’s what Shirda Hudson once said about homeownership, feeling like it was out of reach partly because of her student loan debt.

🏡 Getting connected to the Revitalizing Neighborhoods and Increasing Homeownership pilot program changed her outlook, both mental and financial: She and her husband now own their own rowhouse in Olney.

🏡 Six months ago, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency-run program launched to offer first-time homebuyers grants, forgivable loans, financial education, and favorable mortgage terms.

🏡 Through the program, some pay just a few thousand dollars to purchase homes — and get help paying down debt at the same time. Hudson’s $25,000 home-buying grant included $14,000 toward student loans.

Real estate reporter Michaelle Bond has the story on what it’s meant to the Philadelphians who benefited from the program, and who qualifies.

This Philly university will again host the semifinals and championship games of the Basketball Tournament, which comes with a winner-take-all prize of $1 million.

A) Temple

B) St. Joseph’s

C) Drexel

D) La Salle

Think you know? Check your answer.

🐱 Petting: Every feline pal at Philly’s new litter of cat cafes.

🐗 Thrilled by: This tail of the escape and capture of Gloucester County’s Pumba, the pot-bellied pig.

🧢 Rushing: To snag a Phanatic-themed ice cream helmet bowl at Citizens Bank Park.

This eclectic Queen Village thrift store distributes sales proceeds of donated items as grants to organizations involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

ADRIFT PITHY HILLS

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Karen Zeitz, who solved Monday’s anagram: Point Breeze. Check out our guide on where to eat, drink, and play in the multicultural South Philly neighborhood.

Have a great Tuesday! Back in your inbox tomorrow.

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