Owens appoints Monica Williams to Syracuse Housing Authority board

Mayor Sharon Owens put Monica Williams on the Syracuse Housing Authority Board of Commissioners as Syracuse’s public housing agency faced major decisions on repairs, redevelopment and contracting that will shape neighborhoods for years.

The appointment filled a vacancy left by Vice Chair Christopher Montgomery, who stepped down before his term was set to end in October 2027 and moved on to the Syracuse Planning Commission. That shift mattered because the Housing Authority does far more than oversee paperwork: it manages 15 public housing developments and more than 2,500 apartments across the city, making its board one of the most influential housing bodies in Syracuse.

Owens said Williams’ experience made her especially well suited to keep minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses, along with local hiring, at the center of the agency’s work. That focus lands at a critical moment for the East Adams Neighborhood Transformation, the $1 billion project running from 2025 to 2035 in the Historic 15th Ward. The plan covers 27 blocks and 118 square acres, includes more than 1,400 public housing units, and is intended to replace older public housing with mixed-income housing while reconnecting a neighborhood long cut off by failed urban renewal and the I-81 corridor.

Phase I of East Adams is already underway as a $102 million affordable and mixed-income development that will create 132 new all-electric homes. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded a $50 million grant for the redevelopment work, and city and state officials have treated the project as a high-stakes test of how Syracuse rebuilds while keeping current residents in view.

Williams brought a long local government résumé to the board. She was confirmed by the Onondaga County Legislature as the county’s first chief diversity officer on Feb. 4, 2020, after serving six terms in the legislature. In that county role, she has overseen work tied to minority hiring, MWBE compliance and human rights through the Onondaga County Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Her appointment also added another public figure with a recent record of scrutiny. Williams had been president of the CNY SPCA board before resigning in February, after the organization’s full board resigned in January 2026 following staff walkouts over alleged animal neglect. During that controversy, Williams said she would not resign and said she was willing to meet staff concerns.

After Montgomery’s departure, the Housing Authority board elected Rickey Brown as vice chair. For residents waiting on repairs, safer buildings and clearer redevelopment promises, the board’s newest member arrived with a portfolio built around the kind of contracting and hiring decisions that can shape whether big city projects deliver for Syracuse families.