Shut It Down






The Justice Department is investigating the fountain of fraud that produced a 400-unit low-income apartment complex in Houston’s East End. It’s time we abolish the Houston Housing Authority for these multi-million dollar problems! Local TV stations are even documenting their lavish spending.
Time for someone with a badge to do something. SHUT. IT. DOWN.
There’s breaking news on the fate of that 143-million-dollar affordable housing project on Houston’s East End…
It’s a pretty stunning example of political corruption and outright fraud.
“This is grand theft on a massive scale.”
The FBI… EPA… and the HUD inspector general raided the apartment complex last October to conduct environmental testing after repeated discoveries of toxic ash.
Seven months after it was supposed to start leasing to some of Houston’s needy families… it remains vacant.
Developers have now missed a multi-million-dollar deadline to open the place.
Wayne: “You guys blew the whistle on this five years ago.”
Tony Padua: “It should have been stopped on day one. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. If it doesn’t qualify to be a housing project, it doesn’t qualify, period. Every taxpayer got screwed.”
“The board of the Houston Housing Authority has presented a proposal from Mr. David Northern that he resign his employment as president and CEO effective immediately,” announced Jody Proler during a recent HHA meeting.
But there was a catch to this November agreement… taxpayers would have to pay the HHA president six months’ salary just to go away.
David Northern’s resignation came just a few weeks after the Justice Department and multiple state and federal environmental agencies raided 800 Middle Street…
Houston mayor John Whitmire stopped leasing on the property last July.
“No one should have ever approved the Middle Street project and I’ll leave it that,” he said.
David Northern wasn’t president of HHA when this suspect land deal first happened… but he had defended the 800 Middle Street project despite the glaring red flags.
“I can say one thing, if you see that site, it is a beautiful and amazing site”.
Maybe if you like scenes of little children playing in a field of toxic ash from an old city garbage incinerator.
Instead of protecting taxpayers, Northern had called those complaining about 800 Middle sinister forces.
One of those sinister forces was this guy…. East-end developer Tony Padua… one of the first to blow the whistle.
Wayne: “No one’s been held accountable. Not a single person or company has been held accountable.”
Tony Padua: “It was a massive fraud.”
Texas state senators were up in arms during a legislative hearing at the state capitol… the new Housing Authority chairman was called to testify…
“I was asked to testify today on a particular project that precedes my time on the board.”
That was false… here is Proler voting on the acquisition of the land in July 2019.
We ended up paying 54 million to buy the property from the Cockerell family.
Emails show former mayor Sylvester Turner’s economic development director Andy Icken was personally involved in the negotiations…
“Before they purchased the property there was never an appraisal,” declared Tony Padua.
The land deal for 800 Middle had been brokered by Lance Gilliam… who was the former chairman of the Houston Housing Authority.
“He should never have anything else to do with HUD and government work at all,” adds Padua.
Gilliam’s partner is Licia Green Ellis… the wife of county commissioner Rodney Ellis.
Their company was paid $650,000 in brokerage fees… a land deal made while toxic ash on the site was literally leaking into Buffalo Bayou in clear view…
It was a harbinger of the environmental nightmare to follow.
What’s led to the fountain of fraud we’ve been exposing at HHA despite a concerted effort to hide public records.
“I think this has to be done by someone with a badge honestly.”
It is only in the last few weeks that we’ve received 26,000 pages of documents that were kept secret for years…while we applaud the new HHA board for the disclosures, the failure to hold people responsible is unacceptable.
We’ve already proven that Houston Housing Authority officials with the help of NRP signed false sworn documents claiming there were no environmental issues here… one of the hurdles to secure tens of millions of dollars in state-approved bonds and tax credits.
But they knew that wasn’t true.
There was a superfund site next door…
A huge radio tower in the fall zone of the property.
See that chain link fence bordering the planned low-income complex… on the other side is the old Velasco garbage incinerator, where city trash was burned for years…
HUD knew there was contamination surrounding this project…
Houston HUD boss Lorraine Walls sent this e-mail in December 2019 about contamination.
“Other lots available without contamination history. Children don’t always read signs.”
That didn’t stop the Turner administration, or the federal government from agreeing to put these families at risk.
The Texas Attorney General has yet to file a lawsuit despite evidence of fraud… he should.
Because the new documents show us this project should have been stopped before it ever started.
Tony Padua: “It’s one thing to be right next to other contamination and it’s one thing to be…”
Wayne: “Right on top of it.”
Tony Padua: “On top of it, yeah.”
Even NRP’s own lawyer warned against moving forward on this land deal without further environmental investigation.
He was ignored…
In August of 2022, David Northern assured financing companies there were no pending lawsuits standing in the way of the project when the municipal bonds were sold.
That wasn’t true either… neighbors had sued… that wasn’t true… neighbors had sued… snapping pictures of the toxic cloud being created for ash.
But those lawsuits were dismissed because the Housing Authority claimed government immunity.
Turned out the toxic dirt exposed was six times higher than the legal lead limit.
And why wouldn’t it be? It was a stone’s throw from the incinerator and lead products company. What HHA kept hidden from the public, even a federal judge… they had given away forty percent of the equity in this 400-unit apartment complex to Cleveland-based affordable housing developer NRP.
Part of their serial violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act…. Hiding details of contracts… financial commitments…the chairman of Turner’s Housing Authority then was Lawrence Snowden…
He should face a grand jury too… so should Congressman Turner…
NRP sold the tax credits it received to Hudson Housing Capitol…. Which provides money for affordable housing across the nation… their second installment payment to NRP of six million dollars was due to be paid on January 1st of this year… but there was a catch to that agreement…
800 Middle Street had to have its occupancy permit as of January 1st… that hasn’t happened.
That means NRP should be in default… And that could mean the remaining 32 million dollars won’t have to be paid.
Hudson Housing Capitol hasn’t responded to our requests for comment. Either has Berkadia or Deutsche Bank. Two other huge institutions involved in the financing of construction.
And with the federal investigation now in the open…. Who knows if anyone will be allowed to ever live in the Pointe at Bayou Bend?
We had first reported the FBI was already investigating this place back in April 2020…
Former HHA board member Phyllis Wilson had voted against buying the land.
“Why are they knocking at my door? They have the key players, why aren’t they knocking at their doors?” asked Phyllis Wilson.
Wayne “Can this place ever be lived in?”
Tony Padua: “Potentially if they remediate everything which will likely take years.”
In December 2022, the construction of a storm sewer line to the Bayou exposed toxic ash for a second time. Residents sued NRP and the Housing Authority to force them to dispose of tons of contaminated soil. NRP was trying to cover the exposed ash with other dirt.
In September of 2023 more ash was found in places that taxpayers were told were free of contamination.
Yet HHA had now hired the same environmental consultant Mike Marcon who had misled the TCEQ for years about the condition of this place…
He should lose his license to lie to taxpayers again, at the very least he shouldn’t get another penny of taxpayer money.
In October of 2023, the TCEQ issued citations to the housing authority for failing to properly report and dispose of an imminent threat.
HUD had relied on the turner administration to take responsibility for 800 Middle Street.
The TCEQ citations set off alarm bells. City housing official Laura Serrano sent a message to HHA’s real estate director Jay Mason.
“Construction operations should cease.”
But they didn’t… and here is the likely reason why…
NRP hired Neal Rackleff to lobby HUD to let construction continue… Rackleff was an assistant secretary of HUD in the first trump administration.
He resigned from HUD just two weeks after NRP signed the purchase contract for 800 Middle.
Some of his invoices have now been produced….as HHA releases documents which should have been produced years ago… long before the cost of this housing scandal truly unfolded.
In February of 2024, Laura Serrano sends another warning letter to Jay Mason…
“The environmental reevaluation process is expected to be lengthy and complex for this project.”
The construction continued despite the repeated discoveries of toxic ash. Who’s to blame for that?
Just four months later another acre of toxic ash up to 22 and a half feet deep was uncovered…
“Underneath the trees, it’s all toxic ash,” says 800 Middle Street project opponent Alan Atkinson during a FOX 26 news story. “We’re talking about all kinds of horrible stuff,” replies Gregg Groogan. “Barium, dioxin,” adds Atkinson.
David Northern may be gone… but Jay Mason… Your HHA real estate director… you’re still paying him. And Jennine Hovell-Cox who helped conceal records from you is now interim president of HHA.
“Every single person needs a champion as we move forward”, said Turner.
And the Houston mayor who presided over this scandal hasn’t gotten punished either…. He got elected to Congress in November…
But if former Texas state rep Scott Turner becomes the new secretary of HUD under President Trump as expected he will be blessed with a huge housing scandal that will greet him as he enters the front door…
Wayne: “You’ve been involved in real estate for a long time… Have you ever seen anything like this?
Tony Padua: “Never.”
Even though I am a very compassionate guy, people who prey on the poor deserve no compassion. Somebody better go to jail for this.





