East of Downtown, within sight of Houston’s skyline and the $2.5-billion mixed-use East River under development across the bayou, nearly 400 units of brand-new apartments have sat untouched for a year and a half. Their balconies ring a resort-style pool and outdoor playground.
They’ve lain empty, despite promises to replace public housing that was torn down in 2022, because of well-publicized concerns about the toxic legacy of a nearby city incinerator. In July of 2024, Mayor John Whitmire asked the Houston Housing Authority to hold off on leasing the nearly-ready-for-move-in apartments until the boundaries of the lead-laced ash that had been uncovered nearby were determined through soil sampling and the site was determined “safe and free of environmental dangers.”
That day has come, he said, during a press conference with the housing authority’s president, Jamie Bryant, who took the reins last February. (In Bryant’s previous life, he was actually at the helm of the company developing East River.)…