Syracuse Housing Authority Executive Director Bill Simmons agreed to retire a year before his contract with SHA is set to expire. Simmons’ last day with the housing authority will be July 10.
The housing authority’s board voted to approve a mutual separation agreement with Simmons by a vote of 4-3. Board commissioners Patricia McBride, Quwanka Ellerby and Milton Martinez voted against the mutual separation agreement between Simmons and the board.
An embattled Simmons and the board came to the agreement after he was at the center of controversies surrounding the billion-dollar redevelopment of public housing on the Southside for more than a year. Mayor Sharon Owens has long called for a change in leadership atop the housing authority. Owens recently appointed to the board of commissioners yet another ally, Monica Williams, in the weeks leading up to the agreement.
Had the board wanted to oust Simmons, it would have needed four votes — a majority of the board — to fire him. Of the seven board members, a majority are close allies to Owens.
Simmons leaving SHA comes as the housing authority enters its seventh year of redeveloping public housing in the city’s Southside. The redevelopment could affect residents who live in 672 units of housing in McKinney Manor and Pioneer Homes. The billion-dollar project will also result in the addition of 732 additional apartment units, which will include market rate apartments. The redevelopment was supposed to happen alongside the teardown of the Interstate 81 viaduct.
Simmons joined SHA in 2006 as assistant director before becoming executive director in 2007.
Simmons had been adamant he would not leave the housing authority. Earlier this year, when pressed by a Central Current reporter, Simmons said he planned to serve out his full term which ends in July 2027. According to SeeThroughNY’s payroll records, Simmons made $182,582 in 2025 as the executive director of the housing authority.
Simmons, who will turn 69 in August, told Central Current on Thursday that the financial package motivated him to take an early retirement. Simmons deferred to the board when asked about the details of the package. The board declined to provide details of the financial package.
Deputy Executive Director Jalyn Clifford will serve as the acting executive director.
Simmons is very optimistic about the status of the East Adams project following his retirement. Clifford succeeding him will help maintain the stability of the project without spooking investors, he told Central Current.
“The money and support is there,” Simmons said. “They just got to carry on, keep doing the phases, bringing in the investors… I think we’re in very, very good hands.”
While Simmons’ contract, reviewed by Central Current, would have provided 90 days to transition out of his role, he will remain available to the housing authority for advice until Aug. 28.
Simmons has been criticized since the beginning of last year for his handling of the East Adams neighborhood redevelopment project. SHA was accused of missing deadlines — a claim they vehemently denied — which led to the pause of the Children Rising Center project.
Two mayors and multiple elected officials have questioned Simmons’ leadership of the project. Allegations of a lack of transparency, uncertainty around deadlines and infighting among board members have mired the last 18 months of Simmons’ tenure.
Former Mayor Ben Walsh repeatedly raised concerns about Simmons’ leadership but stopped short of calling for Simmons’ ouster. However, Owens — who was the deputy mayor at the time — and former Allyn Family Foundation Executive Director Meg O’Connell called for Simmons’ removal.
When Owens was elected mayor in November she told reporters there was a need for a change at the top of SHA.
“I feel that there is a need for a shift now as we move forward,” Owens told Central Current. “It is a massive project that we have to get more vision, more expertise in here to get it done. It’s taken way too long. It’s time to move and put the foot on the accelerator.”
Central Current has reached out to Owens who has called for Simmons’ removal for a comment, but a spokesperson for Owens said the mayor was not available for an interview.
While city officials viewed Simmons as an impediment to the project, his employees reflected on a very different legacy while bidding farewell to Simmons on Thursday. Amid a standing ovation and several teary tributes to his leadership, employees unanimously called Simmons “a good man.”
A 71-year-old employee who refused to identify himself to the press thanked Simmons for taking him on as a maintenance staff.
“He could have just denounced me, but he never did. He made me feel like somebody, and that’s why I’m standing up for him… because he makes me feel this way, and he makes all of us feel this way. He’s made us a family,” he said.
Months before his retirement, Simmons had a sitdown interview with Central Current to discuss SHA’s goals for the new year. Simmons declined to comment on the mayor’s remarks. He also denied facing any pressure to resign from his position at SHA, adding that he intended to serve out his full term through 2027.
He reflected on his two decades atop SHA, noting that he has been in the state retirement system for 40 years. His family, Simmons said, was the only source of pressure pushing him to reconsider staying on the job.
“I’ve been able to achieve a lot here. But [there’s been] no pressure [to retire],” Simmons said.
Simmons’ resignation comes as the redevelopment of public housing on the city’s Southside, in conjunction with the removal of the I-81 viaduct, rumbles on. Earlier this year, Central Current reported that under his leadership, the housing authority missed at least 15 deadlines laid out in a federal grant critical to the project.
City officials have said the project’s delay could jeopardize critical funds for the project.
SHA’s board, which serves as Simmons’ boss, has also seen much turnover since October. Four of the seven board members’ seats have turned over in eight months — including the chair and vice chair. In each seat, former Mayor Ben Walsh or Mayor Sharon Owens have appointed allies of Owens’ administration.
The conflict between veteran board members and new appointees came to the forefront in February. Simmons at the time accused Chair Ryan Benz of a potential conflict of interest with the redevelopment project on the Southside.
While Benz denied any conflict and Simmons refused to expound on it, Patricia McBride, SHA board commissioner and city clerk, made a vague accusation against the developer for allegedly having an improper business relationship with Hueber Breuer Construction, the general contractor for three phases of work in the neighborhood redevelopment project. This led to a public spat between McBride and now-Vice Chair Rickey Brown when the latter jumped to Benz’s defense.
Emails obtained by Central Current appeared to undercut McBride’s allegations. Benz has since called for McBride’s resignation. He is still awaiting clearance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and continues to recuse himself from monthly board meetings when the redevelopment project is discussed.
Editor’s note: This is breaking news and will be updated with more information.
Read more of Central Current’s coverage
Bill Simmons to leave Syracuse Housing Authority after yearlong turmoil
Syracuse Housing Authority Executive Director Bill Simmons agreed to retire a year before his contract with SHA is set to expire. Simmons’ last day with the housing authority will be July 10. The housing authority’s board voted to approve a mutual separation agreement with Simmons by a vote of 4-3. Board commissioners Patricia McBride, Quwanka Ellerby and…
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