Screenshot via HTV
Houston Housing Authority President and CEO Jamie Bryant speaks during a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.
An new affordable housing complex located near a former incinerator on Houston’s east side will begin leasing apartments after the state’s environmental regulators found the property meets residential land use standards.
In 2024, Mayor John Whitmire asked the Houston Housing Authority to halt its plans to lease apartments at The Pointe at Bayou Bend, located at 800 Middle Street, until an environmental assessment was completed and officials ensured the land was safe to occupy.
In a statement Thursday, Whitmire assured the public that extensive testing had found the land on which the apartment complex is located is not a risk to residents.
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“When I expressed concerns about this project it was because I had questions about safety,” Whitmire said. “I am confident with the results of the environmental testing and the additional diligence the new leadership at HHA has performed this last year and support the development’s opening to serve the community.”
The Houston Housing Authority owns two parcels of land in the area, known as the “North Tract,” which is undeveloped, and the “South Tract,” where the complex was built.
Toxic ash from the former incinerator was found at the northern tract, prompting Whitmire’s 2024 concerns about potential ash at the southern tract. The mayor also had raised concerns about lead levels and said the apartment complex shouldn’t be occupied until the housing authority had addressed concerns about ash on the property.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) cited the housing authority for multiple violations related to the north tract. They include failing to prevent the threat of industrial waste discharge, failing to promptly notify the commission about the ash and failing to provide a sample and document the sampling process.
The commission also fined the housing authority, which will donate $175,000 to benefit a project with the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Clean Vehicles Partnership in lieu of the fine.
The city built the apartment complex to house residents who had been displaced by the Interstate 45 expansion project.
Environmental testing did not find any incinerator ash on the south tract, according to the housing authority. However, the TCEQ required the housing authority to install a concrete cap over a small area under the parking lot to prevent residual lead exposure related to a former industrial facility east of the area.
The commission also issued an “enforcement order” to fix the violations related to the north tract, according to the housing authority.
The housing authority does not currently have any plans to build housing on the north tract.
Houston Housing Authority President and CEO Jamie Bryant said during a news conference Thursday that the organization had done its “due diligence” to ensure that the apartment complex is safe for residents.
“To be clear, there were issues on this site,” he said. “Houston has an industrial past. Not everything in this city is clean and pretty. But that doesn’t mean that there are not viable paths forward.”
Julia Orduña is the Southeast Texas regional director for Texas Housers, a nonprofit that advocates for affordable housing throughout the state.
Orduña said she wonders about what remediation will look like at the two sites, and whether residents at the apartment complex could still be impacted by the ash, even if it was only found at the neighboring property.
“The particular question just continues to be, ‘How do we ensure that remediation is being done by these … property owners?’ and protecting the residents of the neighborhood,” she said.