Temporary halt on East Houston affordable housing project built on contaminated land

Houston mayor calls for halt on housing project

FOX 26 Reporter Sherman Desselle has more on the call by Houston Mayor John Whitmire to halt an East Houston affordable housing project.

HOUSTON - Houston Mayor John Whitmire has requested the Houston Housing Authority (HHA) place a "temporary halt" on housing plans for The Pointe at Bayou Bend apartment complex at 800 Middle Street.

FOX 26 Political Reporter Greg Groogan has been following this affordable housing development for more than a year. In his most recent report, swaths of newly exposed toxic waste were found near the controversial east Houston project currently under construction. Critics believe the waste poses a "clear and present danger" to future residents.

The project, known as 800 Middle Street, involves 400 units of low-income housing and was built in the immediate shadow of a giant radio tower.

PREVIOUS STORY: Toxic Surprise: Affordable housing project in East Houston built on contaminated land

"It is imperative that the full 21.68 acres property which includes the southern portion upon which the apartment complex is located, as well as the undeveloped northern portion, is determined to be safe and free of environmental dangers," Whitmire stated in the release.

The Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) cited HHA for violations after ash was found on the property including failure to have a representative sample of the ash waste pile and failure to ensure the prevention of an imminent threat of discharge of industrial solid waste.

"What's new is that they have knocked the trees down, and underneath the trees is all this exposed ash," Alan Atkinson, a neighborhood activist and developer who has been fighting the project for nearly five years.

"We are talking about ash with lead, with dioxin, with a whole range of ugly poisonous chemicals, right?" asked Groogan in his report from June 26.

"Barium, arsenic, dioxins. So, this ash, which originated from the Houston Velasco incinerator where they burned the City trash for many decades, is right where that fence line is. And it looks to me like they took the ash and used it to fill in the gully. So, this ash could be up to 30 feet deep and directly connected to Buffalo Bayou, which is only 200 feet away. Before the Clean Air Act, most cities, like Houston, burned their trash. It was the simplest way to take all this waste and reduce it to a very small volume. When they burned the ash, what they did was they concentrated it. All the nasty stuff that was in the trash, like lead and barium and arsenic and mercury, it got consolidated to a very toxic form," said Atkinson.

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TCEQ will not sign off on the certificate of occupancy nil the violations are resolved.

Houston Housing Authority gave FOX 26 this statement:

The safety and well-being of our residents are our top priority. At the request of the Mayor's office, we’ve already completed additional testing on the housing development site which confirms there are no concerns. We are also conducting additional environmental assessment of the surrounding undeveloped property before proceeding with resident move-in. This precautionary measure underscores our dedication to maintaining the highest safety standards for both our future residents and the surrounding neighborhood.

When we acquired the 800 Middle Street property, we knew it was important to thoroughly understand its environmental history. HHA conducted detailed investigations to get a clear picture of the site’s condition. We will continue to work with our partners at the City, the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ), and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to ensure we obtain full compliance and safety for the property.

During off site infrastructure construction, four technical issues were identified by the TCEQ related to the sampling and disposal of buried ash removed from the undeveloped property during infrastructure improvement offsite from the apartment project. We have provided the requested supplemental information to TCEQ, and to our knowledge we have addressed outstanding questions.

We are actively working with the TCEQ to achieve full compliance and will continue to uphold the highest safety standards for our future residents and the community. We understand concerns about safety and are committed to resolving these outstanding issues before moving in residents.

We appreciate the patience of those waiting to move in and will provide updates as soon as the assessment is complete. We remain dedicated to delivering quality, affordable housing to the Houston community and look forward to welcoming residents to their new homes once we have confirmed the site meets all safety requirements.

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