John Kromer has served as Director of the City of Philadelphia's Office of Housing and Community Development (OHCD), the City's housing policy agency, since his appointment to this position in 1992 by Mayor Edward G. Rendell. In this capacity, Mr. Kromer administers an annual budget of $120 million, funded primarily through the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME programs, to support housing production and conservation, housing services and economic development in Philadelphia neighborhoods.

Under Mr. Kromer's direction, OHCD substantially increased commitments of funding and support for community development corporation housing production, homeless and special needs housing, neighborhood strategic planning and CDBG-funded public housing improvements.

To help promote homeownership in Philadelphia neighborhoods, Mr. Kromer managed the creation of the nation's largest housing counseling and settlement assistance program, through which neighborhood-based housing counseling agencies helped deliver 10,006 first-time homebuyers to the Philadelphia single-family sales housing market over a six-year period. Mr. Kromer also supervised the design and implementation of a year-round housing repair and weatherization program with the capability to complete major systems repairs on several thousand owner-occupied homes annually.

In coordination with the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Kromer organized a citywide survey of Philadelphia's vacant property inventory and the formation of a database containing photographs and background information never previously available in consolidated form... Mr. Kromer was the first government official to advocate for a direct City role in advancing a program of progressive structural reform for the Philadelphia Housing Authority, (PHA) and for the use of City resources to address public housing needs. Subsequently, Mr. Kromer played a central role in developing a City/PHA intergovernmental agreement, the first of its kind in the nation, through which City housing agencies assist PHA in completing priority housing production, vacancy reduction and maintenance activities. Mr. Kromer served on the PHA Board of Commissioners from 1992 to 1994; in early.1993 Mr. Kromer also served as Acting Director of PHA while retaining his position at OHCD.

OHCD policy papers drafted by Mr.. Kromer have guided Philadelphia's neighborhood reinvestment strategy and influenced investment decisions by private and non-profit policymakers and resource managers. These publications include Home in North Philadelphia, Vacant Property Prescriptions: A Reinvestment Strategy and Neighborhood Transformations: The Implementation of Philadelphia's Community Development Policy.

Mr. Kromer teaches a graduate-level studio in city housing policy at the University of Pennsylvania Department of City and Regional Planning and has an ongoing: working relationship with the Bryn Mawr Haverford College Growth and Structure of Cities Program. In 1999 Mr. Kromer received a Fannie Mae Foundation Fellowship to support his participation in the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Prior to.1992, Mr. Kromer was employed as Senior Associate at Urban Partners, a private development consulting firm that specializes in development financing and management for non-profit, government and private clients.

Mr. Kromer graduated from Haverford (PA) College and completed advanced course work business administration at Temple University, Philadelphia. (1/99)