The Syracuse Housing Authority and McCormack Baron Salazar host a groundbreaking ceremony for East Adams Phase 1, the first new housing development of the East Adams Transformation Plan Tuesday, december 1, 2025 at 100 Angelou Terrace, Syracuse. Speakers and a ceremonial dirt toss were featured. Executive Director of SHA William Simmons before the ceremony. Credit: Michelle Gabel | Central Current

The Syracuse Housing Authority lost more than $1 million in subsidies in 2025 while holding vacant housing units to which they planned to relocate residents during the redevelopment of public housing. 

SHA held the vacancies across several properties for McKinney Manor residents who chose to move to housing units managed by SHA, said SHA Deputy Executive Director Jalyn Clifford. McKinney Manor was demolished as part of the redevelopment of public housing. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development does not subsidize vacant units, Clifford said. 

SHA officials plan to apply to HUD for a waiver so they can obtain subsidies for the vacant apartments, which would help pay for staff who relocate residents, SHA Executive Director Bill Simmons told board members on Thursday. Simmons said HUD has approved similar waivers for other housing authorities. 

“We can’t wait until we get ready to do a phase to have families move,” Simmons said. “Just got to move them now within our development, and HUD would have to give us that waiver to pay for that staff.”

Residents across Angelou Terrace, Chavez Terrace and Latimer Terrace, together known as McKinney Manor, were asked to relocate in 2025 to pave the way for the first phase of redeveloping public housing in the neighborhood. 

Fifty-seven McKinney Manor residents chose to move to other SHA properties, said SHA Chief Financial Officer Bill Killory. Vacancies were held in several SHA buildings, including the Leonard Buildings. 

“It’s all the other properties we have purposely held out so that people in phase one in this area could swing to those spots,” Killory said. 

The housing authority, which typically has a 95% occupancy rate, is looking into relocation plans for residents who reside in Weiser Court and Radisson Court of Pioneer Homes buildings. Public housing buildings along those streets are among those next in line to be redeveloped.

Simmons told the board that several residents prefer to stay in properties owned by SHA. Residents like to stay in SHA properties because of the longstanding landlord-tenant relationship, the lack of quality housing available in Onondaga County and to avoid the responsibilities that come with renting from private landlords, Simmons said. 

During the redevelopment of a particular phase, HUD directs public housing authorities to provide a tenant protection voucher to the residents, Simmons said. These vouchers last between 18 months and two years while the housing authority works on redeveloping properties. 

SHA plans to have vacancies at Toomey Abbott Towers, Almus Olver Towers and Ross Towers, Simmons said. 

Public housing residents aged 55 or higher who have a one bedroom apartment will first get the opportunity to move into these vacant apartments.

Last summer, SHA announced a $5 million expansion of their Section 8 program, also known as Housing Choice Voucher program, to help families living closest to the construction of the viaduct, to find housing in other places. 54 of the 144 households identified by SHA accepted these expansion program vouchers. Another 32 households opted to relocate to a SHA housing unit away from the construction. These families are now looking for housing all over Onondaga County. They will pay 30% of their monthly income for rent while the voucher covers the rest. Only five of those families signed a lease, Simmons told Central Current in December. 

SHA is planning to redevelop 672 distressed public housing units in McKinney Manor and Pioneer Homes with McCormack Baron Salazar. SHA and McCormack Baron Salazar will also build an additional 732 apartment units. The housing authority hopes to house current residents while drawing in new residents who pay market-rate rents. 

SHA’s redevelopment of public housing has been scheduled to happen in 11 phases. 

Months after residents moved out, demolition finally began at Angelou Terrace in late October last year. SHA and Missouri-based developer, McCormack Baron Salazar, finally broke ground on the first phase of redevelopment in December. The new building, called the Langston, will have 132 units of which 63 units are set aside for returning SHA residents. 

The second phase of the public housing redevelopment project will see a vacant lot — previously used as a makeshift parking lot — at the intersection of South State and Burt streets converted into a new apartment building with 125 new affordable units for seniors. Vertical construction for the project will cost more than $100 million, Simmons had said in December. 

SHA and McCormack Baron Salazar are close to obtaining the funds that would help further redevelop public housing on the Southside.

McCormack Baron Salazar Vice President of Development Allyson Carpenter told the board on Thursday that they are attempting to obtain financing to begin redevelopment at the Chavez Terrace site by the end of the year. SHA will also obtain financing for construction on a vacant lot as part of the eighth phase, before moving on to relocating residents from Weiser Court and Radisson Court. 

The funding will help SHA build more than 220 units of housing split between a currently vacant lot across from Freedom Commons and the land surrounding Chavez Terrace.

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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...