The Houston-area Colony Ridge development, overseen by developers John and William “Trey” Harris III, is currently embroiled in a contentious legal battle. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) brought a lawsuit against the development, accusing it of predatory loan practices and misrepresenting critical infrastructure aspects to predominantly Hispanic consumers, as per information from the Houston Public Media.
Specifically, the government lawsuit alleges that the development, situated in Liberty County, extensively marketed itself to Hispanic families, only to saddle them with unaffordable loans destined to fail.“Discrimination in lending harms families and neighborhoods for generations; it is wrong and has no place in our country,” Attorney General Merrick Garland charged in a statement, as acquired by Houston Public Media. The lawsuit draws attention to false claims about the availability of water, sewer, and electrical infrastructures on the properties sold.
The Harris brothers have long operated under this business model, offering cheap land to mainly Latino and low-income families. Residents in related subdivisions have complained of insufficient roads, drainage, and community amenities while grappling with foreclosure rates significantly higher than the national average, informed an analysis by the Houston Chronicle.
Defining the terms of the dispute, the Justice Department particularly points out the advertising strategy Colony Ridge employed—predominantly utilizing Spanish in social media outreach on platforms such as TikTok—which conflicts with providing crucial transaction documents solely in English. "Using 21st-century social-media applications to target and mislead consumers, Colony Ridge set out to exploit something as old as America — an immigrant's dream of owning a home," stated U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani for the Southern District of Texas, according to Houston Public Media.
The Harris brothers, however, dispute these allegations. In response to the lawsuit, they argue that their practices have provided a path to property ownership for individuals typically excluded from traditional lending options. John Harris has tagged the lawsuit as outrageous and inflammatory, reiterating that the business model allowed low-income buyers "who have no opportunity to get a loan from anyone else” to achieve "the American Dream of owning property," as the Houston Chronicle reported.
