Philadelphia Affordable Housing Summit

Kelvin Jeremiah served as President and CEO of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, the fourth largest public housing authority in the United States and the largest provider of affordable housing in Pennsylvania, since March 2013. Since his arrival at PHA in 2011, first as Director of Audit and Compliance and then as Administrative Receiver, Mr. Jeremiah implemented a comprehensive set of organizational and financial reforms and completed a Recovery Plan that addressed all of the management and governance deficiencies, which led to the removal of the HUD Administrative Receivership and ultimately resulted in the return of PHA to local control. In addition, he forged a collaborative working relationship with PHA resident leaders, which has provided them with greater say within the organization and resulted in the implementation of programs such as entrepreneurship and start-up business training and coaching for PHA youth and residents. During the pandemic, resident leaders worked with PHA staff and Temple University’s College of Public Health to sign up and offer free Coronavirus vaccinations at PHA sites located in some of the most vulnerable zip codes. PHA also partnered with other partners at Temple University to provide improved access to health services during the pandemic. Responding to the recent rise in food insecurity, including youth who no longer could participate in school-based meal programs, PHA partnered with resident leaders to provide free meals to over 8,000 children. Meals were also distributed to senior citizens and families in partnership with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging. The early reform actions taken by Mr. Jeremiah laid the foundation for a series of transformational initiatives to preserve and expand affordable housing, revitalize neighborhoods through equitable development, and promote economic and educational opportunities for PHA residents and clients. To date, he has overseen the construction, rehabilitation, and/or preservation of over 4,500 affordable housing units; repositioned and preserved PHA’s public housing portfolio through conversion to project-based assistance under the Rental Assistance Demonstration program that has closed on over 1,600 units at 24 developments as of April 2021; and, leveraged over $1.1 billion in construction activity. This includes over 600 new public housing units completed or under construction at 15 developments sponsored by local partners and over 3,900 long-term affordable units completed or under construction at 61 housing developments sponsored by PHA or local partners. To breathe life into communities in disrepair, developers must focus on creating opportunities for people as well as new housing. This comprehensive approach to holistic and equitable neighborhood development is underway now in Sharswood/Blumberg, where PHA, in collaboration with the City, residents, and an array of committed partners, is revitalizing the neighborhood that has suffered through decades of disinvestment and closures of businesses and services. It was the site of the former Blumberg public housing development, making it one of the City’s most distressed, poverty-impacted communities. In addition to his focus on redevelopment and neighborhood revitalization, Mr. Jeremiah expanded PHA’s partnership with the City to provide up to 500 permanent housing opportunities each year for homeless families and individuals. He also reallocated resources so that over 2,000 additional rental vouchers could be issued and leased up to households from PHA’s years-long wait list. Over this same period, he significantly enhanced PHA’s first-time homeownership programs, which offer the keys to successful homeownership: credit repair, housing counseling, and, in some cases, financial support and incentives to create and build savings. These initiatives have put more than 475 public housing and voucher program participants on the path to homeownership, a primary means of wealth creation.