The Houston Housing Authority (HHA) has been placed under scrutiny following an audit that reveals significant issues with the organization's administration of housing programs and a separate allegation that it suppressed information about toxic contamination on a property designated for low-income housing.

According to an audit by Berman Hopkins CPAs & Associates, highlighted in an article from the Houston Chronicle, the agency showed "material weakness" and "material noncompliance" in its major programs. As recently as 2023, the auditor could not validate the paperwork for one of the applicants atop the housing assistance waitlist, perpetuating issues that began in 2020 during the pandemic. The authority's action plan, in response to the problematic findings, aims to have the backlog of paperwork resolved by the third quarter of 2024, as confirmed by Michael D. Rogers, vice president of the HHA's fiscal and business operations.

In addition to these administrative lapses, a separate report from FOX 26 reveals accusations against HHA for not disclosing known toxic contamination on a property for a $130 million low-income housing project. Both HHA and its development partner, NRP, admitted in 2019 to the presence of "residual contamination," but this information was not disclosed to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Development when applying for state-backed bonds in 2021.

Community stakeholders, including LULAC Greater Houston President Sergio Lira, are responding with discontent to these developments, with Lira condemning the situation as a "boondoggle", "This is our taxpayer dollars financing these developers, while they profit and the poor people always suffer." Meanwhile, FOX 26's Legal Analyst Chris Tritico suggested that by omitting the contamination information, HHA and its partner may have committed a crime, as "I reviewed all the documents in this case, and it shows the parties knew that this land was contaminated, and when they filled out the application and left that information out. they made material misrepresentations to the state government, and to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Those material misrepresentations are a crime," as reported by FOX 26.

The revelations compound the array of problems that have been dogging HHA for years, from the post-pandemic audits to current accusations of environmental risk concealment. As these concerns continue to mount, the Houston community and its most vulnerable residents await concrete action that rectifies ongoing issues of compliance, safety, and transparency within the housing authority. Taylor Laredo, a community navigator at the nonprofit Texas Housers, called the findings "concerning" and expressed “I do hope the HHA takes actionable steps to rectify this,” as he told the Houston Chronicle.