Mayor Parker Taps Veteran Homelessness Expert, Cheryl Hill, to Lead the Philadelphia Office of Homeless Services

PHILADELPHIA - Mayor Cherelle L. Parker today announced the appointment of Cheryl Hill as the new Executive Director of the Office of Homeless Services (OHS), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. A dedicated servant leader and advocate for marginalized communities, Hill brings more than three decades of strategic leadership, and housing, property, fiscal and program management expertise to the Parker Administration.

Hill comes to the City after serving at Project HOME, a nationally recognized nonprofit homeless services provider, as Senior Vice President of Supportive Housing Operation, and earlier as Vice President, Property and Asset Management. As a Project HOME leader, Hill demonstrated fiscally responsible management of a $20 million annual budget and worked tirelessly to create strategies that would not only support the residents, but also support the 200 staff members she managed to support staff growth and well-being.

Earlier in her career, Hill was a director of compliance for the Atlanta Housing Authority, responsible for the annual audits of more than 100 project-based voucher and public housing communities. She has spent over a decade as an affordable housing consultant leading diverse and complex projects such as developing a HUD-50058 data collection and reporting module - preventing tenant evictions during the 2008 foreclosure crisis and emergency housing placement during Hurricane Katrina.

"It is my privilege to appoint such an accomplished leader to head the Office of Homeless Services," said Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. "Cheryl's deep experience developing and managing programs that help individuals and families - who are often at the lowest point in their lives - put a roof over their heads and thrive, will be an asset to the City of Philadelphia. She will lead OHS down a path of focused, improved, fiscally responsible delivery of service to Philadelphia's most marginalized population."

In her newest role at OHS, Hill will utilize her breadth of skills and experience to fine-tune the City's administrative agency that is responsible for funding and overseeing the more than 70 providers that help it meet its mission to make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring.

"I am honored and excited to take on the role of Executive Director of the Office of Homeless Services," said Hill. "This is a critical time for our city, and I look forward to collaborating with David Holloman, our partners, and the community to develop strategies that build on our strengths to address homelessness in innovative, compassionate, and impactful ways that benefit all Philadelphians."

She succeeds Interim Executive Director, David Holloman, MS, who has led OHS since the November 2023 departure of former Executive Director, Liz Hersh. Holloman will continue in his previous executive leadership role as OHS's Chief of Staff.

"We have the deepest appreciation for Dave Holloman, who stepped up to the plate when OHS and the city needed it most," said Deputy Managing Director for Health and Human Services, Crystal Yates-Gale. "Dave is a longtime, passionate, public servant, whose dedication to the homeless services mission is unparalleled. I am thankful he will remain with OHS to support Cheryl as she continues to steer the agency's efforts to meet its mission. I am excited that Cheryl is joining the OHS team and I look forward to working with her."

Hill, whose first day in the OHS office is today, Monday, September 16, 2024, has a B.A. from San Francisco State University and an MBA from Georgia State University.

About The Office of Homeless Services

The mission of the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) is to make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring. OHS works with more than 70 homeless housing and service providers, as well as city, state, and federal government. This system provides homelessness prevention and diversion aid, along with emergency and temporary housing, to people who are experiencing homelessness and those at risk of homelessness.

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