Owners of notorious Texas ‘illegal alien settlement’ Colony Ridge sued by state for fraudulent claims, predatory practices: AG
The owners of a notorious housing development outside of Houston, Texas, said to be a magnet for illegal immigrants are being sued by the state.
Colony Ridge is said to have attracted many who have newly arrived in the US with a ‘no questions asked’ approach, but the lawsuit states the owners made “fraudulent claims” and exploited customers.
In a lawsuit shared with The Post, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said: “Colony Ridge has been flagrantly violating Texas law.
“The development profited from targeting consumers with fraudulent claims and predatory lending practices.”
The lawsuit alleges that Colony Ridge lies to customers about the condition of the land in order to make a sale of their property.
Properties typically do not have the promised infrastructure such as sewer, water, or electricity, which stops the buyer from actually living there, forcing purchasers to default on their financing — making them subject to “jaw-dropping rates,” per the contracts they have signed.
Colony Ridge follows that by foreclosing on the buyer, repossessing the land and then reselling the same land to a new customer using the same misleading tactics, according to the lawsuit.
Paxton noted the scheme, which he has previously called an “illegal alien settlement” resulted in a negative effect on neighboring areas, “distressing neighboring cities and school districts.”
In a letter to a Republican Congressional delegation last year he added: “Violent crime, drug trafficking, environmental deterioration, public disturbances, infrastructure overuse, and other problems have plagued [Colony Ridge] and nearby towns.”
Multimillionaire brothers John and William “Trey” Harris are behind Colony Ridge.
They previously told Texas Monthly they believe the majority of the population in the development, which houses between 40,000 and 75,000 people, are undocumented immigrants from Latin America.
The same article alleged people had been offered mortgages without requiring customers to give any Social Security numbers.
“Colony Ridge’s business model is predicated on churning land purchasers through a foreclosure mill,” the latest lawsuit states. “Namely, Colony Ridge targets foreign born and Hispanic consumers with limited or no access to credit with promises of cheap, ready to build land and financing without proof of income.”
A Post investigation found a sprawl of of homes, trailers and tents where people were living in the 40-square-mile development in Oct. 2023.
In one Spanish-language advertisement for the area, a woman says in Spanish: “Stop paying that toxic rent! 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!”
Texas’ legal action follows another lawsuit filed by the federal government against the companies behind the development.
Colony Ridge CEO John Harris described in a previous statement being “blindsided” by the federal government’s lawsuit.
“The lawsuit is baseless and both outrageous and inflammatory,” he said.
“Our business thrives on customer referrals because landowners are happy and able to experience the American Dream of owning property.”
“We loan to those who have no opportunity to get a loan from anyone else and we are proud of the relationship we have developed with customers. We look forward to telling the true story of Colony Ridge.”
A request for comment from the Harris brothers was not immediately returned.
A report in the Houston Chronicle claimed the Harris brothers had operated along the same lines since 2005, buying up cheap land around Houston and renting it to low income families and newly arrived migrants.
“Their deceptive practices have created unjust and outsized harms. Nearby communities have borne a tremendous cost for the scheme that made Colony Ridge’s developers a fortune,” Paxton said.
