19-03-2025
Falls roots run deep for new housing authority director
Tomorrow Allen-Collins wasn't quite sure she was ready to return to her native Niagara Falls.
After spending two years living with her husband and two children in Charlotte, North Carolina, Allen-Collins knew returning home would involve some adjustments, a simple one being getting reacquainted with Western New York winters.
In the end, Allen-Collins, who was named the new director of the Niagara Falls Housing Authority in January, said the pull of family and a sense of community brought her home.
In an interview with the Niagara Gazette, she said she's happy to be back and embracing the challenge of her new role.
'It's a privilege to be able to come back home and serve in the place that I loved,' she said. 'I did not think it would be the case at all. The timing just kind of worked out that way.'
ROOTS IN THE FALLS
The daughter of long-time Niagara County Democratic elections commissioner Lora Allen and the Rev. Raymond Allen, senior pastor of Bethany Missionary Baptist Church, Allen-Collins grew up in the Falls and was a member of the final graduating class of LaSalle High School.
The 42-year-old attended SUNY Niagara and later earned a bachelor's degree in communications from the University at Buffalo. After graduating from UB in 2005, she obtained a master's degree in psychology from Walden University in what she thought might lead to a career as a clinical psychologist. She later shifted career plans to business, earning a master's degree in strategic leadership in 2014 from Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester. She went on to secure her doctorate from Regent University in Virginia Beach in 2021.
This isn't her first go-round working for the housing authority. She spent three summers with the agency as a youth summer camp leader while attending classes at SUNY Niagara.
In 2008, she served as the housing authority's assistant senior services coordinator. She oversaw Spallino Towers as an interim public housing manager before departing in 2010. In 2015, Allen-Collins returned as director of the Doris Jones Family Resource Building. She was later promoted to deputy executive director of administration under former authority executive director Stephanie Cowart. She held that job until 2020.
MOVE TO CHARLOTTE
Allen-Collins, her husband, Taj Collins, and their two children moved to Charlotte in 2022. She said part of the motivation involved allowing her husband — the son of a retired Charlotte bus driver — to live closer to his dad. She said she also wanted her children to experience life outside the Falls, living in another part of the country.
'He wanted to spend more time with his father and I just wanted to see what else the world had to offer so I said, 'OK, let's do it,' ' she said.
It turned out, that the time her husband spent with his father was precious as the elder Collins passed away suddenly last October.
Allen-Collins said the loss shifted her family's 'entire world,' prompting her and her husband to start thinking more about loving closer to their remaining parents, her husband's mother who lives in Buffalo and her own parents, the Allens, in the Falls.
'After losing a parent, he kind of decided we want to be in close proximity to our parents. We were already entertaining the thought of returning home and I said 'OK, if we are going to do this let's see what's out there,' ' she said.
OLD WORKPLACE, NEW OPPORTUNITY
While she was aware of the position's opening following the retirement of former interim housing authority director Angelo Smith last year, Allen-Collins said she was initially reluctant to apply for the executive director's job at the Falls Housing Authority.
She did so after three people not affiliated with the organization suggested she'd be good fit. All went well during the interview process and a formal job offer followed.
'It wasn't just because I served here before. I think it had to do with an understanding that what was needed is for the authority to go in the direction of my value system, which is to serve other people.'
PRIOR MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Allen-Collins enters the authority's top job following several tumultuous years marked by questionable — and at times even illegal — decision-making at the top of the public organization.
Smith assumed the position of interim executive director in 2023 after the former full-time director, Clifford Scott, had been placed on leave for undisclosed reasons.
The authority's board hired Scott under an initial three-year contract in 2019. He followed as the head of the authority former Executive Director Stephanie Cowart who retired in 2017 after being placed on paid administrative leave amid an FBI probe. Cowart was later convicted of theft from programs receiving federal funds while working for the authority. She was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.
Allen-Collins, who worked in various capacities at the authority under Collins, Scott and Smith, said she hopes Falls residents and taxpayers will judge her based on her work ethic and not on what has happened at the authority in the past.
'The decisions they made were the decisions they made,' Allen-Collins said. 'Now it's time to move on. I think that my charge is to get the city and the organization beyond pointing fingers and placing fault and assuming responsibility at this point.'
MOVING FORWARD
Allen-Collins officially took over her leadership role at the authority on Jan. 31. She started by conducting a listening tour with staff members and residents. She has also undertaken an inspection of the financials and said she is working to build a team within the organization. She summed up a key aspect of the direction she wants to see the authority move in one word: Accountability.
As the operator of 848 housing units, including Spallino and Wrobel towers and Jordan Gardens, Allen-Collins noted that the housing authority is the 'largest landlord' in Niagara Falls. Beyond housing, she said, the authority must continue to work hard to fulfill its roles that extend beyond housing, including providing educational, workforce and life skills training for tenants so that they are not only able to survive but thrive.
'We provide quality housing for low-income members of our community, but that's just the baseline of what we do,' she said. 'Our mission is that we empower, we enrich, we build strong communities. It's not just about having a nice place to stay. If you don't have stability in the basics that you need, it impacts the quality and fiber of your entire life.'
Devoutly Christian, Allen-Collins said she's relying on her faith and humility to help her set a new direction for the authority. She's also trying to constantly remember what her father, Pastor Allen, told her years ago. His advice: Focus on doing what you can within your own workspace.
'It frees you up to enjoy the ride,' she said. 'Will it be perfect? Probably not. But I know that it will progress. Even if I move that needle just an inch, it's better than not moving it all.'
Allen-Collins said she also intends to continue to rely on two of the most important sources of support in her life, her parents.
'Just outside of being rooted in faith, they are genuine people,' she said. 'The same people the community sees on Sunday, they are in their personal lives during the week.'
