The Houston Housing Authority, which owns the property at 800 Middle Street, confirmed it was served a search warrant by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General.
Toxic ash from a former trash incineration plant was found buried on a portion of the site last year, although the Housing Authority has long maintained the soil is fine, which The Pointe at Bayou Bend apartments were built.
Not everyone is convinced.
"This land is contaminated," Shon Jones, who lives nearby, said.
Jones says he began suffering health problems when construction began on the housing complex.
"When they stopped scraping up the dirt and the dust stopped spreading around, then some of my inflammation and breakouts stopped," Jones said.
Houston Housing Authority under federal investigation after toxic ash found on Main Street complex
In a 2021 application for state funding, the Housing Authority didn't check a box acknowledging environmental hazards on the 26-acre site.
Toxic ash is known to contain chemicals like arsenic and lead.
"That's not where you put housing on something like that. You have to clean it up first, then you put housing," Tony Padua, a local developer who's long been opposed to the housing project, said.
Despite Padua's concerns, the Housing Authority moved forward with the project until July when the city asked the agency to halt move-ins, citing concerns about soil contamination.
"You can't explain what they did. They had so many red flags, so many problems with this project," Padua said.
Last year, the TCEQ cited the Housing Authority for four violations, including not having samples of the toxic ash and not notifying regulators about ash uncovered during construction.
On Tuesday, the TCEQ confirmed that none of the violations had been corrected.
"If TCEQ is saying that the issues haven't been resolved, that is a huge red flag and absolutely warrants additional oversight, which is exactly what they're getting from the federal government," Jackie Medcalf, the founder and executive director of the Texas Health and Environment Alliance, said.
The Housing Authority didn't answer a question about the violations on Tuesday.