The City of Houston appears to be moving forward with plans to open a controversial low-income housing complex next to a site where toxic ash was discovered.
Plans to open The Pointe at Bayou Bend, at 800 Middle Street in the Second Ward, were previously halted after toxic ash was found next door at the site of the city’s former trash incinerator.
The housing project was the subject of a federal investigation in October 2024 when federal agents descended on the property to collect soil samples.
But in its annual report, the Houston Housing Authority lists March 1 as a possible occupancy date for the complex.
HUD’s Office of Inspector General, which obtained the warrant to collect soil samples, didn’t respond to a request for comment on Wednesday regarding the results of its investigation.
The Houston Housing Authority and the mayor’s office both declined to answer questions about the housing project on Wednesday, but Houston Mayor John Whitmire is slated to take part in a news conference and tour of the site on Thursday morning.
Whitmire blasted the project in 2024 following the federal investigation.
“No one should have ever approved the Middle Street project,” Whitmire said at the time. “It’s under investigation now, and I’ll leave it at that … totally unacceptable.”
Records show the Houston Housing Authority purchased the land for the project from the prominent Cockrell family in 2020 for $54 million – four times its appraised value.
A month after the soil samples were collected at 800 Middle Street, HHA’s then-director, David Northern, resigned amid heightened scrutiny of the agency. Northern assumed the role in 2022, after the land had already been purchased.
A search of TCEQ records shows four active violations at the property, three of which pertain to the handling of industrial solid waste.
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