JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When First Coast News first toured Mary Gill’s home in April, she showed us the dilapidated roof she had been trying to get repaired through the Rebuild Florida program for years. It was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017. She had been waiting for Rebuild to do an environmental review since 2021.
Now, four months later, she still has tarps on her roof, and she says the problem is only getting worse.
“My roof is horrible,” Gill said. “The tarps are getting bad and starting to leak through this last Hurricane Debby that came through, and I have pieces of it falling down. It’s just horrible. It’s rotting.”
We took her concerns to the head of FloridaCommerce in May.
“Mary Gill, unfortunately, she's never actually been in the program. She applied well more than a year after the program's application window closed,” Secretary Alex Kelly told us when we sat down with him in Tallahassee.
“It got me so upset when they said I wasn't even in the program, and I have been talking to people and I have a case worker. I have a case and then to say I'm not even in the program, that just blew me away there. And then when I call and check on it, I'm in the program,” Gill said.
In June, weeks after we aired Gill's story, she received an email from FloridaCommerce saying her file was in the eligibility phase of the program, pending the final determination of benefits for her project.
“Around the beginning of August, I called them and asked them what was going on with my case,” Gill said. “And they said that, that I was still in final determination, and they did not know when it would be accepted.”
She's not the only one still waiting. The commerce secretary assured us in May that all of the homes in the Irma program would be finished by July 2024 when the contract with IEM, the company it hired to administer the program, ended.
“The contract for the contractors ends then so they must finish it in July. That's, you know, non-movable for us,” Secretary Kelly explained in May.
But in July, a FloridaCommerce spokesperson told us that 250 homes are in the construction or preconstruction phase of the program.
“All of these homes are expected to be completed by the end of the calendar year,” Emily Hetherington, deputy director of communications and external affairs, said.
First Coast News has asked Florida Commerce multiple times for a response on the July deadline not being met and for an update on who is now administering the program and how much that company is being paid. We are still waiting for those questions to be answered.
“The program from the very beginning hasn't been run right,” Robert Brookens said.
Since we first interviewed Brookens in March, he says some repairs have been made to his new mobile home in Baker County, but he days those repairs are subpar. And his biggest complaint hasn't been resolved. The mobile home Rebuild Florida gave him is about 300 square feet smaller than his home that was damaged by Hurricane Irma.
“Like type and size home, far from it. If they had given me the floor plan, I would have denied it,” Brookens said. “This isn’t working for us.”
$247,000 of taxpayer money was used to replace his mobile home according to documents he showed us. It’s money he does not think was wisely spent.
“I mean if they allowed me $247,000 to replace my home, I could have done that and more. But a lot of money went in someone's pocket and it’s just, it's not right,” Brookens said.
After we gave FloridaCommerce a list of names of homeowners like Brookens struggling to get help, they sent a team to see firsthand their complains. We were there when they visited Janet Jackson's house in Jacksonville, and we checked back in with her to see where things stand now.
“No, not all of the problems have been fixed,” Jackson said. “The windows, the electrical, the gutters and the doors.”
But she says communication has greatly improved with FloridaCommerce, and for that she is very thankful.
“Every time I call, I do get a response. Before you, months would go by, no response."
And she's hopeful all the work will soon be finished.
“You guys made a big difference in what we were going through. By you going to Tallahassee, by you talking to us, interviewing us, it kind of put fire under them you know,” Jackson said. “And then when he called me, and told me, ‘Give us a few weeks, this company would no longer be part, IEM, we are like phasing them out and we're bringing another company in.' So, to me, if it wasn't for you, you and your team, we would still be spinning our wheels. I believe that.”
For Anthony Stevens, a disabled Jacksonville veteran, who had a list of complaints when we first toured his home, he says his problems have now been resolved. He's just waiting for the final walkthrough.
“After you aired the story, it looked like somebody had a fire under them. Everything started to start moving in the right direction,” Stevens said.
He says the contractor fixed his garbage disposal, his misaligned doors, his roof and even replaced his floors that he believed had been installed incorrectly.
“When you came to help me, I mean, seriously, I was in dire need,” Stevens said. “I was in dire need, the stress and everything to fight this, but after you all came in… they started getting everything taken care of. No if ands or buts about it, you know, if it wasn't for you all, it would not have happened.”
As for Mary Gill, she continues to wait.
“I need help. I am a single senior woman, and I cannot do this on my own. And I had faith when I filled out that application that Rebuild Florida was gonna help me,” Gill said. “And here it is all these years later, and I'm actually worse than I was to begin with because it took so much time, and my roof is rotting worse than it was.”
We have asked FloridaCommerce several times for another interview with Secretary Kelly, but we are still waiting to hear back.
First Coast News also reached out to IEM who sent this statement:
"IEM completed more than 3,700 homes – about 95% of the project – despite facing unprecedented challenges, including significant delays caused by supply chain disruptions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent storms that halted progress across the affected areas. These unforeseen factors extended the timeline beyond the State’s original projections. Working closely with State officials, IEM effectively transitioned a small percent of remaining homes to the State for final completion, in full compliance with our contractual obligations.”
If you have a news tip or story to share about the Rebuild Florida program email hcrawford2@firstcoastnews.com.