Mayor Orders Investigation Into Affordable Housing Claims

HOUSTON, TX — Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has ordered an investigation into claims made by former City Housing Director Tom McCasland that Turner put on a "charade" of a bid process for affordable housing projects and showed preferential treatment to a specific proposal.

The mayor announced in a news release Thursday that he instructed the City of Houston Legal Department and City Attorney Arturo Michel to look into the allegations made by McCasland and make the findings of the review public.

McCasland accused Turner of benefitting a certain developer at the expense of working families when he selected a $15 million proposal to create 88 affordable housing units in Clear Lake over housing officials' recommendation for a $16.2 million proposal to create 362 affordable housing units among four different projects. Harbor Venture Group, a company with a stake in the proposal selected by Turner, is run by Turner's former law partner, Barry Barnes.

Turner fired McCasland on Tuesday.

"My administration works extremely hard to avoid potential conflicts of interest, and I have not conducted business differently than any former mayor in the city of Houston," Turner said in the news release. "Mr. Michel has full authority and discretion to conduct the investigation and will have no interference from my administration or me."