Five key stakeholders who have been involved in work around the redevelopment of public housing answered questions and Syracuse residents’ concerns about the project at a Tuesday panel discussion.
The panel included:
- William Simmons, Syracuse Housing Authority Executive Director
- Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, New York Civil Liberties Union Racial Justice Center Director
- Raquan Pride-Green, Blueprint 15 Executive Director
- Marquita Hetherington, Blueprint 15 Neighborhood Navigator
- Michael Collins, Commissioner of the City of Syracuse’s Neighborhood and Business Development
Central Current managing editor Chris Libonati moderated the event.
Residents’ core concerns included the potential gentrification of Syracuse’s South Side, especially just south of downtown Syracuse, and the disruptions that the redevelopment may cause in residents’ lives.
Simmons talked residents through the housing authority’s plan. The redevelopment is part of a conversion of the housing units in SHA’s South Side properties from public housing to section 8 housing. The housing will be managed in a public-private partnership between SHA and developer McCormack Baron Salazar. It is set to expand the number of housing units while also introducing workforce and market rate housing.
The city and SHA received a $50 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant to carry out the project from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Simmons anticipates receiving the tax credits and grant money in early 2025, triggering the start of the project. He said he believes most residents will only have to move once but some may have to move twice if they want to return to SHA.
Such conversions require a “right of return” policy for current tenants who want to continue living in the housing authority’s properties. However, Simmons said “right of return” requirements are still being nailed down.
Owens-Chaplin said in other cities, having a “right of return policy” didn’t guarantee residents were able to move back. She said other cities saw about 20% of residents returning. In at least one city, Owens-Chaplin said a housing authority required things like a minimum credit score of at least 600. In most places, tenants have to be current on their rents to return after construction.
Beyond low return rates, Owens-Chaplin was wary of the City’s plans to foster a mixed-income neighborhood places like Pioneer Homes and McKinney Manor. Because Syracuse is redeveloping public housing later than other cities, Owens-Chaplin said there is evidence that such mixed-income designs have led to gentrification.
Collins, the commissioner of NBD, said that being “late to the game” provides Syracuse the chance to learn from other cities’ mistakes.
He said that guaranteed affordable housing units will prevent the proposed mixed-income neighborhood from becoming inaccessible to current tenants. The city earmarked millions of dollars in funding from HUD to support Pioneer Homes residents interested in future entrepreneurship in the redeveloped neighborhood, Collins said.
During the question and answer portion of the event, residents aired their remaining concerns, some of which were not satisfied by the panel’s responses.
Some voiced frustration for what they perceived as a lack of transparency from the City and SHA in communicating their plan, and called for more outreach.
Fears of history repeating itself in the 15th Ward — destroyed during the city’s mid-century “Urban Renewal” and further bisected in the aftermath by the interstate viaduct — fueled some of discussion.
Blueprint 15 members, though, expressed their optimism that, through their own involvement in the neighborhood’s redevelopment, they can protect the area from the destruction that has defined the City’s past redevelopment.
Tara Harris and Quawanka Ellerby, who work as neighborhood navigators with Blueprint 15, said building trust with residents will be important.
“We wasn’t even born the first time around, right?” Harris said, referring to the gutting of the 15th Ward to put up the Interstate 81 viaduct. “But we’re here now.”
Hetherington ended the discussion with an explanation of Blueprint 15’s FAITH Program, which stands for “Further advancing independence through homeownership.”
In partnership with Home HeadQuarters, the program seeks to promote financial literacy for Pioneer Homes residents while emphasizing generational wealth through homeownership.
According to Hetherington, the program’s second cohort of participants will finish on Wednesday, with 17 out of 23 enrollees completing the course. The next step for the participants is 1-on-1 advisory meetings with Home HeadQuarters.
Hetherington asked residents to be willing to trust Blueprint 15’s advocacy, while encouraging residents to reach out with their concerns and suggestions.
“We know what was done before, we know what not to let happen again, and I don’t think that anyone in this room is going to allow that to happen,” Hetherington said.
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