Credit: Photo provided by Douglas Reicher

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comments from Douglas Reicher, following a Wednesday interview with Central Current.

Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens is set to make new changes to the Syracuse Housing Authority board of commissioners as her push for a change in leadership atop the organization continues. 

Owens appointed Douglas Reicher, a seasoned affordable housing expert and a vocal Owens ally, to the board, a city spokesperson told Central Current. Reicher has experience leading some of the Syracuse nonprofits providing housing in the city. 

“I have always been someone who does not shy away from challenges,” Reicher told Central Current on Wednesday about his appointment to the board. “I am looking forward to being part of this. This is a very exciting time for the city, for the housing authority.”

He will replace Stephanie Pasquale, the city’s chief strategy officer. It is unclear when he will be sworn in, but he will serve the rest of Pasquale’s five-year term — until 2030. Reicher’s first SHA board meeting will be Feb. 19. 

SHA Board Chair Ryan Benz said in a statement to Central Current that the board of commissioners were looking forward to using Reicher’s experience with both affordable housing and development. 

“He will undoubtedly be a tremendous resource to both staff and the Board,” Benz said. “We’re honored to have him join us as we bring the East Adams redevelopment to life and continue advancing our shared commitment to supporting SHA residents.”

Reicher’s appointment effectively untangles a legal conundrum that did not allow Pasquale to serve on the board despite in November being appointed by former Mayor Ben Walsh. 

Central Current reported earlier last week that a state public authority law does not allow housing authorities to have more than one municipal employee on their board. That effectively blocked Pasquale from serving on the SHA board once she was hired by the city. City Clerk Patricia McBride had already been appointed to the board by Walsh in 2019.

Pasquale was working as the director of neighborhood advancement at the Allyn Family Foundation at the time of her appointment to the SHA board. She was hired by the city earlier this month to oversee the Department of Neighborhood and Business Development, Constituent Services, the Bureau of Research and the Mayor’s Office to Reduce Gun Violence.

During a sitdown interview with Central Current reporters, Owens said that city officials were “maneuvering through” the unprecedented change which complicated Pasquale’s position on the SHA board. City officials said that the mayor would make a new appointment in case of a vacancy. 

Reicher, 72, has a deep-rooted family connection with the housing authority. His great uncle, Philip M. Holstein served as the board chair at SHA between 1949 and 1966 after Pioneer Homes– the oldest public housing in the state– was developed in the 1930s.

Reicher has worked as the rehabilitation director at Home HeadQuarters and for 12 years as the president at Christopher Community. He retired in June 2021. 

According to Christopher Community’s 2021 tax filings, Reicher made over $86,000 as the organization’s president. He currently runs a consulting firm that works with nonprofit housing organizations in the area, Driftcap Consulting, LLC.

Some of his clients include Jubilee Homes and Greater Syracuse Land Bank as they try to put together a project to build 35 modular housing units on the city’s Westside.

Besides SHA, Reicher serves on the board of other organizations, including Housing Visions, St. Camillus Nursing & Rehabilitation and Gustav Stickley House Foundation. 

A Syracuse native, Reicher studied music at Hobart and William Smith Colleges before pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration at Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

Reicher will take over for Pasquale at a critical moment for the organization’s history. The mayor remains steadfast in her calls to remove Executive Director William Simmons. 

Cultivating good leadership, Reicher said, will be a focus of his as he begins his term.

“Strong leadership, well-focused leadership, mission-oriented leadership is key to the success of the organization,” Reicher said. “So I think that’s probably the one that will take most time initially.”

Using his background and experience to help the organization get the project “back on track” is another one of his key goals, Reicher said. Relocating people into safe and decent affordable housing as the start of the construction on the Interstate 81 viaduct gets closer is going to be one of his priorities, he added.

Owens has maintained since her campaign for mayor Simmons should be replaced as executive director.  Reicher, however, has not spoken to Owens about moving to remove Simmons, he said.

“I wouldn’t want to rush to judgement until I have a chance to really understand what’s going on,” Reicher said, adding that he is still getting up to speed on the ongoing issues at the housing authority.

SHA’s board has seven members. At least four would need to vote on a resolution to remove Simmons. SHA’s board of commissioners would need to give Simmons at least a 10-day notice to remove him, and could only move to oust him for inefficiency, breach of financial responsibility, neglect of duty, or office misconduct, according to state law.

But it is unclear if the board could remove Simmons under these terms. A copy of Simmons’ contract reviewed by Central Current shows that Simmons requires a four-week notice before changes to his employment terms are made. 

Owens, other city officials, SHA board members, and Simmons himself have not responded to questions about a potential vote to remove Simmons and about the type of notice he would need to receive. 

The past year saw Simmons embroiled in a flurry of controversies regarding the redevelopment of public housing — also called the East Adams Neighborhood Transformation — as well as the pause of the Children Rising Center project. 

Walsh raised concerns about Simmons’ leadership in early 2025 but refrained from calling for Simmons’ ousting. 

 Following a historic win at the mayoral race, Owens reiterated a “need for a shift” at SHA. 

“It’s taken way too long,” she said at the time. “It’s time to move and put the foot on the accelerator.” 

Owens’ calls for a leadership change comes amid SHA’s ongoing public housing redevelopment on the Southside. SHA is redeveloping 672 distressed public housing units across McKinney Manor and Pioneer Homes with Missouri-based developer McCormack Baron Salazar. The $1 billion project will be executed over 11 phases resulting in 732 additional apartment units. 

A month into her mayorship, Simmons continues to lead SHA. 

Simmons has 18 months before his contract which is set to expire in 2027. According to See Through New York’s payroll records, Simmons made $182,582 in 2025 as the executive director of the housing authority.  

During a sitdown interview with Central Current to discuss SHA’s goals for the upcoming year, Simmons denied facing any pressure to resign from his position at SHA, adding that he intended to serve out his full term until 2027. He declined to further comment on the mayor’s calls for his removal. 

Simmons reflected on his two decades atop SHA, noting that he has been in the state retirement system for 40 years. 

In a September interview with Central Current, Simmons threatened to sue the board if the board carried out his removal.

“I have a contract here. If the board said, ‘Well, we’re gonna fire Bill… fire him unjustly, I was gonna sue,’” Simmons said.

Read more of Central Current’s coverage

Debadrita Sur is a multimedia journalist and Report for America corps member who reports on the I-81 project and public housing for Central Current. In 2023, Sur graduated with a master’s degree in journalism...