The Syracuse Housing Authority is owed nearly $3.7 million by the state Department of Transportation and SHA officials say the money is critical to counter the housing authority’s current financial constraints.
The New York State DOT owes SHA because of land it needs to use for the teardown of the Interstate 81 viaduct and the construction of the Community Grid. This includes land the DOT will use for up to five years and other land it will outright buy, said Melissa Liquori, SHA’s director of asset management and modernization.
SHA officials discussed the money in their last board meeting. New York State Department of Transportation officials have so far declined to confirm the amount of money “to protect the privacy of the claimant,” spokesperson TeNesha Murphy said.
At the monthly board meeting in June, SHA’s Chief Financial Officer Bill Killory cautioned board members about the housing authority’s financial position. Killory said that the housing authority was only able to collect 61% of its rents in June, compared to 72% of rents in May. Killory called June “the worst I’ve seen since we’ve been here.”
The funding would provide SHA “much-needed liquidity,” SHA Public Information Officer Shakira Santos said.
“We’re struggling right now,” Killory said during the board meeting.
The budget crunch comes at a critical juncture in the housing authority’s redevelopment of public housing. Interim Executive Director Jalyn Clifford said the authority wants to close on several phases of the project in 2026, which requires the housing authority to have cash on hand.
“I want to make sure our workforce can stay maintained, so finances are always at the forefront,” Clifford said. “Because we have so much under our portfolio to keep in mind, even outside of East Adams so it’s always on my mind.”
The affected SHA properties include the following:
- Former SHA warehouse on Renwick Avenue
- SHA property adjacent to the railroad tracks
- SHA parcels along Almond Street in front of Toomey Abbott Towers and Pioneer Homes East
At the board meeting, Killory laid out the financial burdens the housing authority is facing. Utilities cost SHA $400,000 more than the organization anticipated, he said. Recent union negotiations led to a 5% wage increase for employees. Although several key staff positions are vacant, Killory advised that SHA needs to get their “feet underneath us” before trying to fill the vacancies. SHA also estimates pension costs to go up 18%.
Payments from the state for the easements will help offset these costs, he said.
SHA’s online rent collection portal, which is supposed to go online soon, will also help improve rent collection rates, Clifford said during the board meeting. SHA will also invest in check scanners placed at buildings to ease the process of rent payment for residents, she added.
SHA does not have a timeline for when the state funds will be disbursed, Santos said.
“We are still in the process of obtaining the necessary signatures for the easement agreements,” Santos said.
These signatures include sign-offs from property owners who have underground utilities that run underneath SHA properties that will be acquired or used by the state. The DOT can only disburse the funds after SHA obtains the necessary signatures from these entities, including Syracuse University and the city.
“As soon as we receive all of those sign-offs for each one, then we should receive a payment. But we have not received a payment for any of it thus far,” Liquori said.
In 2023, the state began working on an estimated $2.25 billion construction on the I-81 highway. The project includes the teardown of the 1.4-mile long elevated portion of the highway, known as the viaduct. The first stages of the viaduct’s removal will start in the winter of 2027, Murphy recently confirmed to Central Current.
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