3 Arrested Allegedly Stealing Houston Taxpayer Money Allocated To Third Ward Affordable Housing

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Three people have been arrested and charged with stealing and misusing taxpayer dollars meant for affordable housing.

The district attorney describes an unconscionable scheme in which the three men allegedly pretended to improve the Third Ward but pocketed millions of dollars instead.

The Midtown Redevelopment Authority has purchased more than 300 vacant lots.

The plan was to clean them up and sell them to private developers who would then build affordable housing.

But in many cases this has not happened.

“They attract crime, squatting, domestic and sexual violence and drug trafficking,” said Ed Pettitt, vice president of the Greater Third Ward Super Neighborhood.

Pettitt and other neighborhood leaders have watched the land deteriorate for nearly a decade.

It made no sense, because your taxes bought the lots.

The city’s Midtown Redevelopment Authority was supposed to work to transform these areas into affordable housing.

Today, these whistleblowers say the overgrown and weeded lots are all starting to make sense.

“Unfortunately, our tax dollars, intended to improve the lives of Houstonians, have been spent on flashy cars, nice houses, great housing, travel and all kinds of pornography” , said District Attorney Kim Ogg.

The District Attorney announced today that more than $8.5 million of your money was stolen or misused.

Todd Edwards, the redevelopment authority’s real estate asset manager, allegedly worked with landscaping and demolition company owners in a scheme in which they claimed to maintain and beautify the properties.

All this, as property taxes in the Third Ward continue to rise, and residents say, more families are being evicted.

“They have a leak in their bed and they can’t afford, on their fixed income, a new roof, and they can’t get on the waiting list for affordable housing because it wasn’t built,” Pettit said. .

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