Is Houston building low-income housing on contaminated site?

HOUSTON - An environmental controversy heating up on Houston's east side where neighborhood activists believe City Hall is looking the other way despite evidence of legacy contamination.

At issue is a multimillion dollar, 400-unit housing project for low and middle income Houstonians at 800 Middle Street. It's being constructed with public dollars on land activists believe is contaminated with cancer-causing material.

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On Wednesday, protesters greeted Mayor Sylvester Turner at an East-side gathering, but got no comment regarding the controversial Houston Housing Authority project being built adjacent to City's old Velasco trash incineration site.

"The Mayor's office decided to build this 400-unit low income housing project in the worst imaginable spot and the most contaminated property anywhere on Buffalo Bayou," said Alan Atkinson, a longtime critic of the project.

Atkinson claims decades of burning all kinds of garbage left the area contaminated with toxic substances like arsenic, dioxin, beryllium and lead.

"Lead is one of the worst. It tests six and a half times allowable contact level," said Atkinson.  

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Atkinson and allies have been fighting the project in court. He believes City Hall and HHA know about the potential health risk to future residents, but moved ahead with the project anyway.

"They plan to put 400 low income families, full of kids, in a neighborhood that's surrounded with ash properties and contaminated properties on three sides. And that's not only violative of all federal rules about where you put low income housing, but it's morally wrong," said Atkinson.

FOX 26 asked the Houston Housing Authority to respond, and the agency issued the following written statement.

"The Houston Housing Authority (HHA) was made aware of complaints by activists claiming the presence of contaminants on site. InControl Technologies, under the supervision of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) conducted tests earlier this year and determined the material in question as non-hazardous." 

Atkinson claims he has evidence the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved the project based and on flawed or falsified testing.

FOX 26 asked HHA whether future residents would be told the environmental history of the area prior to move in. The agency offered no response.