President and CEO
Kelvin A. Jeremiah has served as President and CEO of the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA), the fourth largest public housing authority in the United States and the largest provider of affordable housing in Pennsylvania, since March 2013. In this role, he oversees management and ownership of 13,000 affordable housing units, administers a 22,000+ unit Housing Choice Voucher program and is responsible for over 800 employees and a $650M annual operating and capital budget.
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 HUD Administrative Receivership and ultimately resulted in the return of PHA to local control. These efforts also included increasing occupancy and voucher utilization rates across the portfolio and expanding housing opportunities for veterans, homeless families and individuals.
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. As part of these efforts, he secured three competitive Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grants totaling $110 million from HUD. As of May 2026, the first two neighborhood-wide transformation projects at Norris/North Central and Blumberg/Sharswood are substantially complete, generating more than $850M in investments, 1,782 housing units, and extensive neighborhood amenities and infrastructure improvements. Construction of the third Choice Neighborhoods project at Bartram/Kingsessing is underway and will result in 688 units and over $330M in investments.
Progress made in the Blumberg/Sharswood neighborhood highlights the holistic approach that Mr. Jeremiah has adopted in revitalizing Philadelphia’s neighborhoods. A recently completed independent study of the economic and other impacts of the project through 2025 found that PHA’s efforts contributed significantly to the transformation of the Sharswood community. Some of the noteworthy outcomes include: 1) The project has expanded the supply of housing units by roughly 12 percent, reflecting the net gain after accounting for demolitions, replacements and rehabilitation of long-vacant properties; 2) The transformation has successfully shifted the neighborhood to the mixed-income community envisioned in the plan, with poverty rates falling from nearly 70 percent in 2014 to 31 percent today. This shift reflects a reduced concentration of poverty and a broader range of economic conditions than previously characterized the neighborhood; 3) The redevelopment effort has achieved remarkable success in stabilizing and improving Sharswood’s physical environment and housing market. Median home values have risen 60 percent to $222,000, indicating an improvement in market conditions while maintaining affordability. This balance ensures Sharswood remains accessible to diverse income levels while providing existing homeowners with growing equity and neighborhood stability and, 4) Perhaps most visibly, the blight that once defined Sharswood has been eliminated. Through an ambitious land assembly strategy, vacant parcels have declined by 78 percent and vacant buildings by 83 percent, achieving an overall 79 percent reduction in neighborhood vacancies. What were once symbols of disinvestment and barriers to neighborhood cohesion have become new homes, businesses, and community spaces.
Building on these successes, beginning in 2023, Mr. Jeremiah spearheaded development and implementation of the portfolio wide “Opening Doors Initiative,” a $6.8B program to preserve or redevelop 13,000 existing public housing units and acquire or build 7,000 additional affordable units citywide. Over 3,700 units are either completed or under construction, with an additional 5,300 in the planning stages. This includes over 1,500 multifamily units in opportunity neighborhoods acquired on the private market since 2024 utilizing proceeds from a $300+M tax exempt bond issuance and other sources. See www.phaopeningdoors.com.
Among the many redevelopment and expansion projects that make up the Opening Doors Initiative is the redevelopment of Westpark Apartments. The original 11+ acre, 327-unit public housing site is being transformed through a $500 million effort into a mixed-income, mixed use neighborhood of choice with 1,000 housing units, ground floor commercial space and extensive site reconfiguration and infrastructure improvements. Following PHFA’s award of a 9% and two 4% LIHTC volume cap allocations, Phase I consisting of 327 units closed in December 2025. PHFA’s direct allocation of a tax credits volume cap allowed PHA to issue the bonds for the project and represents the first time PHFA made such an allocation directly to the agency, an effort that was led directly by Mr. Jeremiah. Construction has begun and will continue throughout FY 2027.
To support PHA’s long-term financial strength and stability, Mr. Jeremiah initiated PHA’s strategy to convert from public housing to the Section 8 Project Based Voucher platform utilizing the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and Section 18 tools including conversion of the largest scattered site portfolio in the nation consisting of 3,900 units. This effort also incorporates HUD’s Restore-Rebuild initiative to tap into unutilized Faircloth authority. To date, PHA will have closed on over 3,900 units under the RAD program including existing public housing sites, transfer of assistance and Restore-Rebuild developments.
PHA’s financial stability received external validation from prominent credit rating agencies. S&P Global Ratings maintained a positive outlook and affirmed its ‘AA-’ issuer credit rating (ICR) for PHA, as well as a ‘AA-’ rating for the agency’s series 2017 general revenue bonds. Additionally, Fitch Ratings assigned a ‘AA’ Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to PHA and a ‘AA’ rating to the Philadelphia Housing Authority Guaranteed Revenue Bonds (PHADC Acquisition Program), series 2025A. The Standalone Credit Profile (SCP) was assessed at ‘aa–’, and the Rating Outlook was reported as “Stable.” These ratings underscore the rating agencies’ recognition of PHA’s sustained improvements in financial performance and its exceptionally strong management and governance under Kelvin Jeremiah’s leadership.
Mr. Jeremiah has forged a collaborative working relationship with PHA resident leaders, which has helped strengthen resident organizations and provided them with a greater role in shaping agency policy and programs. As part of his deep commitment to resident engagement and empowerment, Mr. Jeremiah established PHA’s Workforce Development Center, Section 3 Job Bank, Entrepreneurial Fellowship Program and other programs which provide outcome-focused job training and placement, small development, educational and other support services to thousands of residents each year. Programs are based out of the Vaux Community Building, located in the Sharswood neighborhood. As part of the Blumberg/Sharswood transformation, the Vaux School, which had been vacant and shuttered, was rehabbed to include the Big Picture High School and a wide array of employment, training and other services.
Mr. Jeremiah also founded the PhillySEEDS non-profit organization in 2013 to provide educational, self-sufficiency and empowerment opportunities to residents of public and assisted housing. To date, the organization has provided over $4.2M in scholarships, first-time homebuyer downpayment and security deposit assistance to over 1,600 residents.
Over the course of the COVID pandemic, Mr. Jeremiah organized residents and major citywide institutions to target healthcare and other resources to the City’s most vulnerable residents including working with Temple University’s College of Public Health to sign up and offer free vaccinations at PHA sites and provide improved access to health services. Responding to the 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.
In 2022, Mr. Jeremiah established a comprehensive Youth and Family Center where residents can find a diverse collection of services and activities under one roof including social workers who can assist during a family crisis, trauma-informed services, college preparation, homeownership, financial literacy workshops, and many other services.
Over his tenure, Kelvin Jeremiah 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 assisted more than 1000 families to purchase their own home through PHA’s 5h scattered site sales program, HCV Homeownership Program and new development initiatives and provided homeownership counseling to thousands more.
Kelvin Jeremiah’s achievements and contributions to the City of Philadelphia have been recognized by numerous organizations. In addition to receiving an Honorary Doctorate in 2023 from Cheyney University, the nation’s first HBCU, he was recognized as one of the Titan 100, he received the Champion for Children Award from Children First, and Most Admired CEO award from the Philadelphia Business Journal. Most recently, he was recognized by Philadelphia Magazine as one of the City’s 150 Most Influential People by Philadelphia Magazine and also received the Drum Major Award from the Philadelphia Martin Luther King, Jr. Association for Nonviolence.
Before joining PHA, Mr. Jeremiah served as the Inspector General for the New York City Housing Authority. Previously, he was Deputy Director at Springfield Housing Authority in Springfield, Massachusetts. Other prior appointments include Compliance Officer at the Commission Against Discrimination in Springfield, and Regional Contracts Manager and Monitoring Coordinator for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of Early Care and Education.
Mr. Jeremiah emigrated from Grenada to the United States as a teenager with his family to New York City, attending city public schools. He received a Bachelor’s degree in History/Business Administration from Pace University, a Master of Arts in American Social History from Rutgers University, and a Master of Public Administration from American International College. He has three children and resides in northwest Philadelphia.
