HOUSTON, TX – After years of concern and public outcry, federal agents visited the Houston Housing Authority’s new low-income complex at 800 Middle Street on Tuesday.

More than a dozen agents, including specialists from the Environmental Protection Agency, executed a search warrant at the Eastside project built for 400 families.

The $140 million complex has come under scrutiny because it is surrounded by toxic dumps – as first reported by Fox 26.

“It’s important to remember that they’re planning to put hundreds of families here. That’s 600 to 700 kids playing in the neighborhood,” said Alan Atkinson, a vocal critic of the project, who says lead , arsenic and even dioxins are present. present on adjacent properties.

Atkinson led a five-year battle to expose the risk posed to residents.

RELATED: Houston Housing Authority accused of knowing about pollution at low-income project

He believes the Housing Authority and developer NRP lied to the Department of Housing and Urban Development about the quantity and location of toxic waste in order to gain access to $54 million in federal dollars to buy the land near Buffalo Bayou in the East End of Houston.

Mid-afternoon Tuesday, a drilling rig was deployed on the property bordering the complex that could extract soil samples for analysis.

Atkinson, who has worked in the neighborhood for decades, is confident the test wells will reveal a clear and present danger from decades of ash dumped by the city of Houston’s since-closed Velasco garbage incineration plant. a long time.

“In some areas, they’re going to find ash up to 22 feet deep, highly toxic ash created by the city of Houston’s incinerator property,” Atkinson said.

This evidence could prove crucial because HUD prohibits construction of public housing within 3,000 feet of significant environmental hazards and if it is proven that information was suppressed to access federal funding, criminal charges could arise. follow.

“This is the worst possible place to build affordable housing and they knew it, privately, behind the scenes, they knew it and we have the documents that they knew about this contamination,” Atkinson said.

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The Housing Authority has always maintained that the complex is safe for habitation, but Houston Mayor John Whitmire suspended occupancy indefinitely until thorough, independent testing is completed.

“Mayor Whitmire is a hero,” Atkinson said.

Famed investigator Wayne Dolcefino has been sounding the alarm about the project since 2019 and says today’s operation was long overdue.

“These people are thieves because they are stealing from a bunch of poor children, just to make money. It’s just disgusting,” Dolcefino said.