PLUM GROVE, Texas — In the piney woods and wetlands 35 miles north of Houston, one of the biggest housing developments in the country has become one of the most controversial.
Colony Ridge, a sprawl of homes, trailers and even tents, is home to as many as 75,000 people in an area at least 50 percent bigger than Manhattan.
But next week, it will be the subject of a special session of the Texas legislature, ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott, because of claims it is a “no-go area,” a home to criminals and drug cartels, and a magnet for “illegal immigration.”
Texas’s 25 House Republicans, who’ve also called for an investigation, said it is “an optimal haven for illegal aliens amid a historic border crisis.”
The 40-square-mile development on unincorporated land in Liberty County was launched 15 years ago by billionaire developer brothers Trey and John Harris.
Its latest and largest subdivision, when complete, will be 30,000 lots.
This is just a fraction of Colony Ridge, which covers 40 square miles north of Houston, Texas, and now is at the center of controversy over claims it is a “no-go area” for police and used by cartels.New York PostFrom the air, the squalid nature of parts of Colony Ridge is clear. Critics say it is causing environmental damage and that local infrastructure cannot cope with the demands being put on it.Robert Rehak/ ReduceFlooding.comThe development offers financing to buy lots and homes without credit and residency checks. Dana Kennedy
Called both “Colony Ridge” in English and “Terrenos Houston” in Spanish, it is promoted in Spanish-language advertising as “the perfect solution for you to become the owner of your own land in the United States.”
“Stop paying that toxic rent!” a young woman says in one Spanish-language advertisement.
“Properties with water, electricity and drainage, easy financing with the owner-to-owner method, low down payment, and comfortable payments, it is very easy to apply, we do not check credit!”
In the Spanish-language advertisement for Colony Ridge, a pitchwoman says, “…then if you want…”Terrenos Houston/ Youtube
She goes on to say, “if you want to stop paying” toxic rent, promoting the idea of buying a lot.Terrenos Houston/ Youtube
A map showing the location of Colony Ridge in Texas.Some property owners at Colony Ridge are too poor to erect anything but a tent on their land.New York Post
Instead it offers owner financing to prospective buyers, meaning undocumented migrants can bypass the credit rating and proof of residency required for traditional bank loans.
But once they put down a small down payment, buyers have to pay credit card-style interest rates of up to 15 percent as well as hefty fees for water and sewage hookup.
Opponents accuse the Harris brothers of preying on people, especially migrants, by advertising a 1950s-style fantasy of suburban home ownership that in reality, they allege, is a vast, shoddily constructed, environmentally unsafe trailer park run on predatory lending practices.
This is how Colony Ridge is advertised in promotional material targeted at Spanish speakers, with its pitchwoman telling them: “It is the perfect solution for you to become the owner of your own land in the United States.”Colony Ridge is divided into subdivisions. While there are some nice homes at the fringe, a number of lots contain ramshackle homes.New York PostAn apparent gang sign is seen in the Kings Colony subdivision at Colony Ridge.New York PostPeople who live nearby say flooding is a problem in Colony Ridge. Robert Rehak/ ReduceFlooding.com
And local authorities say crime and drug overdoses in Colony Ridge have soared.
The Harris brothers told The Post they vehemently disagree with all charges, and that the total population is 40,000, not 75,000 as critics claim.
When The Post toured Colony Ridge, we saw tents, trailers, ramshackle shanties and packs of dogs alongside some nicer homes and well-kept lots.
Gang graffiti is visible in some places.
Residents in the poorest areas of Colony Ridge — which reportedly aren’t shown to prospective buyers touring the development — released their pit bulls from behind chain-link fences when a reporter tried to speak to them.
Texas Department of Public Safety statistics say there were 12 murders in Liberty County in 2022, and just one in 2011.
By comparison, the Census Bureau says the county’s population has gone from 75,643 in 2010 to an estimated 101,992 in July 2022.
John Harris and his brother Trey Harris are under fire for what critics say are predatory loan practices and environmentally unsafe conditions at Colony Ridge.LinkedInThose who live near the development say the runoff from it is to blame for the main road through Plum Grove being swept away. The town cannot afford to replace it, locals told The Post.Go Nakamura for New York PostBuildings throughout the development are incomplete or dilapidated, including this structure with a sign for a church.Go Nakamura for New York Post
Both locals and law enforcement sources told The Post that they believe the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels bought property here early and have considerable influence.
Liberty County Sheriff Bobby Rader said recently that his department doesn’t have enough officers to properly patrol the settlement, which he described as something of a no-go zone. “I’ve heard rumors that the cartel is buying up these houses,” he said, without offering evidence.
“We don’t have any access. If they don’t break the law, we don’t know about it. We can’t go and knock on doors and ask if people are doing it. It’s a problem. It’s a big, big problem.”
Developer William “Trey” Harris (left) has been accused of allowing illegal migrants to purchase land at Colony Ridge, Texas, without presenting any documentation or proof of income.Dolcefino Consulting/YouTubeColony Ridge is known in Spanish as Terrenos Houston, Houstonland, although it is more than 30 miles north of the city.Go Nakamura for New York PostGov. Greg Abbott has called for a special legislative session to investigate Colony Ridge, but critics say he’s a “hypocrite” because the developers have contributed more than $1 million to his campaign.AP
Inside Colony Ridge, however, it is the owners, not claims of cartels, which concern Maria Acevedo, 51, who bought a lot in 2018 where she planned to build a home with her husband, envisioning a peaceful life in the countryside.
Instead, she said, she lost everything. After she put a small down payment on the $39,000 property, she found there was a mysterious $7.6 million lien on it, and things went downhill from there, she said.
“I’m an American citizen,” Acevedo, 51, told The Post last week while asking not to be photographed because she fears retaliation.
The local sheriff has said he cannot adequately police the development, where there are signs warning against discharging firearms to mark celebrations. Go Nakamura for New York PostThe dream being sold to buyers at Colony Ridge is deceptive, some people told The Post. Maria Acevedo said many non-citizens were being lured with a bogus American dream.Go Nakamura for New York Post
“But a lot of these people here aren’t — and they don’t speak English. They’re lured up here with the promise of buying a piece of the American dream, and it turns into an American nightmare.
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“There were feces coming out of the drain between me and my neighbor. I’m a businesswoman and I still got taken in. My life’s been ruined.”
Many who decide to buy at Colony Ridge end up in foreclosure.
Since 2020, at least 97 percent of the foreclosures in Liberty County have been located inside Colony Ridge, public records show.
The developers buy the land back at auctions.
Sisters Keilah Sanchez, 39, a web developer, and Suellen Sanchez, 41, an esthetician, formed a website called Terrenos Houston Demanda in June 2021 after what they said was their own nightmarish experience buying eight lots at Colony Ridge.
Like Acevedo, the sisters, both Puerto Rican, want to help those in the settlement who feel they’ve been taken advantage of but can’t fight back.
“They’re exploiting people here by not telling people the truth when they show interest in buying here,” Keilah said.
Suellen Sanchez bought land at Colony Ridge with her sister and said their dream of home ownership became a nightmare.Suellen SanchezSuellen Sanchez (left) and her sister, Keilah, bought eight lots of land at Colony Ridge but claim they were hit with unreasonable fees and in some cases were told they weren’t paying their monthly mortgage.Keilah Sanchez
“Nothing the sales guy said was true, like he said it had never flooded there when it did. We were told the lot was turn-key but we had to go buy our own electric pole and figure out how to put it up. They told my sister she wasn’t paying for her lot when she was. It was one endless money pit.”
The Sanchez sisters, Acevedo and others told The Post they’ve experienced retaliation for speaking out about what they say are unfair business practices and unsafe living conditions.
“We can’t talk,” said one man, who did not give his name but said he was from Honduras and stood outside a run-down mobile home with a friend. “They don’t like us to talk to anyone.”
But the Harris brothers told The Post that they are enabling thousands to achieve home ownership and say that allegations that their development is a dangerous “colony” are “preposterous and unfounded.”
From the air, a home in Colony Ridge is only partly completed, like many in the settlement.Robert Rehak/ ReduceFlooding.com
On Thursday, they plan to show Texas lawmakers around Colony Ridge ahead of next week’s special legislative session after inviting them last week.
Both brothers say Colony Ridge is home to mainly US citizens of Hispanic descent, not people without legal status, and that they have followed all rules and regulations in developing the area.
“We’re proud of what we do,” John Harris told The Post. “We don’t apologize. (Our opponents) don’t like the fact that we give Latinos opportunities to, to have their own homes and to have their own place and to have something they can be proud of and have an opportunity for the kids to go to better schools.”
The brothers said they sell mainly to poor residents of Texas who could not find a way to buy a home otherwise.
Around another site, cars litter a backyard. Robert Rehak/ ReduceFlooding.com
They also say Acevedo, who sued them, is a “liar” and that they offered her a good settlement because she was unhappy with her purchase, while the Sanchez sisters are just two disgruntled customers among many satisfied ones.
And they say they blame the residents of the town of Plum Grove, population 1,344, which abuts Colony Ridge, for the controversy about the new development, accusing them of being “racist” and not liking “brown people” or “poor people.”
But Plum Grove’s feisty former mayor, Lee Ann Penton Walker, 55, who lives next door to the house where she grew up, told The Post: “I may be a redneck but I’m not racist.”
She says property taxes have skyrocketed in Plum Grove to pay for new schools needed for the influx of people into Colony Ridge, while once-quiet rural roads built to handle 1,000 cars a day now see more than 20,000.
The feisty ex-mayor of Plum Grove, LeeAnn Penton Walker, was one of the first to sound the alarm about what she said were undocumented people living at Colony Ridge.New York PostFormer Plum Grove, Texas, Mayor Lee Ann Penton Walker (from left), former city council member Sharron Reed and former Plum Grove homeowner Michael Shrader have all been fighting the massive new development of Colony Ridge that abuts their town for years. New York Post
“We don’t have the infrastructure to take on all these new people. Hell, Houston doesn’t. New York doesn’t. Look what your mayor’s been saying lately. Is Eric Adams a racist?
“People think we care about Biden or Trump down here. We don’t. We care about the politicians in Texas being in the back pocket of the developers while pretending to be against illegal migration. They’re making money off these people.”
She — and other critics — highlight John Harris and his wife’s donations to Abbott and his campaigns, for example, which total more than $1.5 million.
Attorney Kathleen Lieberman and her husband, Mark, are preparing lawsuits on behalf of 13 residents of Plum Grove whose homes, they said, were ruined or damaged by flooding downstream from Colony Ridge.
Texas attorney Kathleen Lieberman and her husband, Mark, are preparing lawsuits on behalf of 13 residents of Plum Grove, Texas, whose homes have been damaged or ruined by flooding downstream from Colony Ridge.LinkedIn
One client, Plum Grove resident Michael Shrader, 53, planned to spend the rest of his life in a three-acre home that was worth about $250,000 in 2020.
It was flooded four times and at the end, Shrader said, he was forced to sell it for $90,000.
Shrader said he’s felt threatened since speaking out, not only about his damaged home but about the changes in the area.
“As soon as the Colony started being developed, the murder rate suddenly jumps,” Shrader told The Post.
“We started having dead bodies found out there. Somebody’s hand was brought up to their house by a dog. They found a body with a gun buried out there.”
Bob Rehak, a retired Chicago advertising executive, has been chronicling what he said are serious environmental flaws, especially drainage issues, at Colony Ridge for years and frequently photographs the area from a helicopter, including this trash-strewn area.Robert Rehak/ ReduceFlooding.comRehak also captured this dilapidated trailer from the air. He says that allegations he is motivated by racism are “bulls–t.”Robert Rehak/ ReduceFlooding.com
And another person who has spoken out against Colony Ridge is Robert Rehak, a former top Chicago advertising executive who moved to the affluent neighborhood of Kingwood, 10 miles south of the development, and who calls accusations of racism “bulls–t.”
He has chronicled flooding that he says is caused by poorly mitigated drainage at the development since 2020 on his blog, Reduce Flooding, and said: “They’re flooding my community. It’s also a humanitarian issue. Some of the people there are living in very bad conditions. This has nothing to do with racism.”
“The (developers) make huge political contributions and that buys them air cover,” said Rehak.
“They flout the regulations and cut every corner. They abuse people and they allow people to live in conditions that are hazardous to human health.”
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