Philly City Council advances bill requiring the city to collect more data on homelessness and overdose reversals

Philadelphia City Council advanced legislation Monday to compel the city to collect and share more data on drug overdoses and homelessness because, according to one lawmaker, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration hasn’t produced the information weeks after it was promised.

Council’s Committee on Health and Human Services unanimously passed the two bills, which require the city to track the number of homeless encampments or “tent cities,” as well as produce anonymized information about people who are repeatedly treated with overdose reversal medication.

Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, who represents parts of Kensington — where an open-air drug market has ushered in high levels of drug overdose deaths and persistent homelessness — had put the bills on hold nearly three weeks ago.

On March 12, officials in Parker’s administration testified to members of the committee that they already keep some of the data Lozada has sought since introducing the legislation in January. Martin W. McCall, the fire department’s deputy commissioner for emergency medical services, said compiling it would take about a week.

“We actually gave them more than a week,” Lozada said Monday. “We asked for information, and when you don’t get it, then you have to push in order to get the information that you need in order to better represent the needs of your constituency.”

A spokesperson for the Parker administration did not immediately respond to questions Monday. The bills are slated to be considered by the full Council Thursday, and Parker has previously expressed support.

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The mayor, who took office in January, has positioned herself as an ally to Lozada and other Council members who have vocally advocated for a new strategy for Kensington.

Parker has pledged to end the drug market there, and has asked for $100 million to establish new “triage centers” for people in addiction. Lozada has pushed for several legislative changes, including a bill passed by Council last week that requires some businesses along the Kensington Avenue corridor to adhere to a curfew.

One of the bills advanced Monday requires Managing Director Adam Thiel’s office, which is charge of city operations, to send reports to City Council every other month that includes the number of people who interacted with police or outreach workers because they were “impermissibly camping.” Council also wants a list of services offered to those people, and the locations where encampments have repeatedly occurred.

The second bill requires the administration to provide quarterly updates to Council about the number of people to whom first responders administered naloxone, the opioid reversal drug also known as Narcan. It also compels officials to produce information on the number of people who were revived more than once in a 30-day period and the locations where the drug was administered, identified by the nearest cross street.

Lozada said Council wants the data on naloxone administration to better understand if there are specific blocks where city services should be expanded or where the drug supply could be tainted.

McCall testified last month that while his department keeps records on patient care and how frequently naloxone is used, data on the number of people who are repeatedly administered the drug could be incomplete. He said first responders often never learn the names of people who are treated because many refuse further medical care after being revived.