John Kromer `71
Reclaiming Philadelphia's Neighborhoods

By Steve Manning `96

In January of 1996, the City of Philadelphia concluded that its city officials were underpaid in comparison to other civic leaders across the country. Mayor Ed Rendell bestowed generous pay raises upon his cabinet, which included Director of Housing and Community Development John Kromer. Kromer accepted the raise but turned around and announced that he would personally forgo 10% of his new, larger salary, and return the $11,000 to his cash-strapped department. The press hailed his move; The Philadelphia Inquirer suggested that his actions should be a model for all executives. But Kromer didn't mean to play the role of the hero; he was simply trying to be heard. "Federal housing grants were being reduced at that time, and I wanted to send a message that the resources available to my department were diminishing," Kromer remarks. "I thought that taking the voluntary pay cut was a good way of making my point. That $11,000 could buy 12 heaters for 12 elderly residents, or to pay settlement costs for 11 first-time home-buyers. I hoped to make people think about making full use of the limited resources we are working with."

Not only did this action illustrate Kromer's modesty, it also revealed his dedication and enthusiasm for his job. As Director of Housing for the city, Kromer has to perform daily the magic act of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Case in point, the hypothetical cost of rehabilitating all the vacant structures in Philadelphia hovers around the $2.7 billion mark. The resources available to the Housing Office amount to roughly $30 million per year. Yet these daunting figures do not discourage Kromer; he always seeks ways to make the most of what he has. Rather than scatter money across the city, Kromer has developed lower-cost, innovative plans that focus on community-based solutions to Philadelphia's housing problems. He is not easily frustrated.

He was, however, discouraged when entering Haverford as a freshman in 1966. "I felt like I was not as well prepared as the other students, that I might have a hard time keeping up," he recalls. This awkward adjustment to college prompted Kromer to leave for a year to pursue an interest in writing. Upon returning, he pursued a degree in Russian, which led him to enroll in Indiana University's Soviet Politics graduate program. Thinking back to his time at Haverford, Kromer states "Haverford was demanding and challenging, at best it taught me to listen, think and organize my thoughts. My current job is about 70% listening and 30% working under high pressure, so I guess Haverford prepared me well in that respect."

Russian politics proved not to be Kromer's calling, and he left Indiana after a semester to return to the Philadelphia area. He began working for non-profits and community groups, where he got his first taste of civic action. In the early '70s he joined Chinatown community organizations in their fight against a widening of the Vine Street Expressway. The expanded roadway would have come at the expense of a neighborhood church and school. The successful campaign aroused an interest in urban issues for Kromer, who recalls that, "I got a good chance to see how government and community organizations could work together." In 1978 he got the opportunity to work in the Housing Office, remembering it as "a good experience, but frustrating as worthwhile programs went into a state of disarray as time went on." Kromer left public life in 1982 and ended up at Urban Partners, a development consulting firm where he dealt heavily with Philadelphia housing issues.

The decline in Philadelphia's housing quality is not a unique story; it is a common urban phenomenon that has changed the face of numerous cities over the last forty years. Philadelphia grew as industry grew, with neighborhoods centering around factories and businesses. However, the mainstays of employment have been trickling away from neighborhoods, with companies favoring sprawling, campus-like plants in the suburbs, abandoning cramped, multi-story city factories. The loss of jobs forced workers to abandon city neighborhoods and follow employers to the suburbs. Employers also demanded more of their workforce, as unskilled, uneducated laborers found it hard to compete in an increasingly technological job market. In simplified terms, these changes ended in abandoned housing, unemployment, and poverty.

Enter John Kromer. John had volunteered on the Ed Rendell mayoral campaign, and had the opportunity to draft the candidate's housing strategy. He was therefore a logical choice for the position of Housing Director after the election. Kromer attacked the problem of deteriorating neighborhoods from the grass-roots level, through community programs and through preventive measures aimed at catching and fixing housing before it becomes vacant.

His goal is to improve `the neighborhood economy,' which Kromer described in a recent Inquirer editorial piece as "the human resources and physical assets located in and belonging to Philadelphia's neighborhoods." On the human resource side, Kromer came up with a creative plan in 1993, one designed to encourage and assist low-income families with buying a home. With mortgage rates currently low, the city is encouraging families to consider buying homes rather than renting, and has set up counseling to help guide perspective owners through the process. On top of the assistance, the Housing Office will also contribute an initial subsidy of $1,000 to each family to help with a down-payment. The plan, named Project 500 for the number of grants it intended to give each year, proved to be improperly named. By 1995, the program was producing over 2,200 home settlements each year. In addition, the Housing Department sponsored a Philadelphia chapter of the nation-wide Youth Build program. High school dropouts interested in completing their education get training for the graduate equivalency diploma through the program, and in return are required to pitch in to help fix up vacant houses. Participation in the Philadelphia chapter has doubled since it was introduced three years ago.

Dealing with vacant and abandoned housing is the second major preservation approach for Philadelphia's neighborhoods. According to an August 1996 study by the Housing Office, there are roughly 25,000 vacant units in the city. "Rather than trying to fix them all, a financial impossibility, we adopted a preservation approach, designed to keep housing from being abandoned," Kromer explains. Residents often abandon housing when it becomes difficult to maintain, so Kromer has set up a repair hot-line, which people can call when they need work done. The hot-line connects them directly with repair services provided by pre-qualified contractors, thus ensuring that the work is done quickly and well.

Kromer's neighborhood approach to solving some of Philadelphia's housing problems has proven to be an effective way to use the limited resources available to his office. Rather than being overwhelmed by the daunting task with which he has been charged, Kromer maintains an optimism that appears to be crucial to his work. "On even the most frustrating days, I realize there are tremendous opportunities to collaborate with dedicated people and organizations in Philadelphia. The underlying support from the city's elected officials along with the opportunities to work with groups at the community level is always rewarding." Although a complete solution to the city's housing problems is not on the horizon, John Kromer is working hard with what he has to make a difference.