From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker unveiled her plans to tackle homelessness in Philadelphia on Friday during her annual State of the City address.
Parker signed an executive order following her speech at the Temple Performing Arts Center. The plan, which Parker has dubbed the One Philly Plan to End Street Homelessness, is a partnership with Jefferson Hospital to add 1,000 extra beds to provide shelter to those living on Philadelphia’s streets.
“I commit to you on this day, as mayor of this city, that we will bring 1,000 new beds online this winter to help end street homelessness in Philadelphia,” she said.
The extra beds will not only be available just in the winter.
“We are seeking long-term solutions,” she said. “This might be the first step that someone takes into addiction treatment.”
According to the 2024 Point in Time survey, which tabulates the number of people experiencing homelessness at one given time, more than 4,200 people were living in some type of shelter program in the city. Another 976 were living on the streets, an increase of more than 200 from the year before.
Parker said this is just a “first step” to combatting homelessness in the city.
Mayor Cherelle Parker delivers her State of the City Speech at Temple Performing Arts Center. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
“That’s not what our commitment is. This is not just about homelessness overall because there are different levels to homelessness,” she said.
The mayor said her commitment is specifically to end on-street homelessness and help the estimated 1,000 people who live on city streets.