The department received a complaint alleging a ‘large-scale pattern of religious discriminatory conduct’ by project developers.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is investigating entities involved in a planned Muslim housing development in Texas due to concerns the initiative may have engaged in discrimination based on religion and nationality, the department said in a Feb. 13 statement.
HUD’s probe will look into “The Meadow” project, formally called EPIC City or the East Plano Islamic Center, for potential violations of the Fair Housing Act, according to the department. The Act prohibits direct providers of housing, such as real estate companies, from instituting discriminatory practices that make housing unavailable to people based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or family status.
The department’s investigation, conducted by its Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, will cover EPIC Real Properties, Inc., and Community Capital Partners, LP, which are involved in the development program.
According to the department, it has “received a complaint from the Texas Workforce Commission detailing a large-scale pattern of religious discriminatory conduct by the developers of The Meadow.”
The project’s marketing materials promote the initiative as a “Muslim community” that will represent the “epicenter of Islam in America.” There are allegations of discriminatory financial terms in the project requiring lot owners to subsidize a mosque and Islamic educational centers, HUD said.
Another allegation is that the initiative employs a biased sales mechanism consisting of a two-tier lottery system for lot sales, granting exclusive access to Tier One buyers.
“It is deeply concerning the East Plano Islamic Center may have violated the Fair Housing Act and participated in religious discrimination,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said.
“As HUD Secretary, I will not stand for illegal religious or national origin discrimination in housing and will ensure that this matter receives a thorough investigation so that this community is open to all Texans.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the East Plano Islamic Center and Community Capital Partners for comment, and did not receive a response by publication time. The Epoch Times was unable to reach EPIC Real Properties.
Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott extended support to HUD Secretary Scott Turner regarding the investigation, according to a Feb. 13 statement from the governor’s office.
The state has taken multiple actions over the past year against the EPIC City project. In April 2025, Abbott said the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found the entities involved in the project had not obtained required permits or authorizations to move ahead with development.
In November 2025, the Texas Securities Board sent a letter to the state’s Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel, writing that Community Capital Partners and its personnel could have “solicited unauthorized sales, engaged in fraud, and made materially misleading statements concerning securities.”
