TAMPA, Fla. — For months, 10 Investigates, in partnership with a Jacksonville news anchor, has been working to uncover why dozens of people were still waiting seven years after Hurricane Irma to get back into their homes — and how to get them help.
The resulting investigation, "Waiting for Rebuild," is a collaboration between two newsrooms — 10 Tampa Bay (WTSP-TV) in Tampa-St. Pete and First Coast News (WTLV-TV) in Jacksonville.
10 Tampa Bay Investigative Reporter Jennifer Titus, 10 Tampa Bay Investigative Producer Libby Hendren and First Coast News Anchor Heather Crawford all worked together to figure out how to get dozens of people help after they applied for a state program called Rebuild Florida and were still waiting to get back into their homes following Hurricane Irma.
Here's a behind-the-scenes look at how this investigation started:
How this got started at 10 Tampa Bay:
Hendren: Back in January, a viewer contacted us through the 10 Investigates' tips email and told us she believed she was the victim of contractor fraud through the Rebuild Florida program.
She had been trying to get her home rebuilt after Hurricane Irma and was facing the possibility of her house getting demolished for not meeting code regulations.
When I told her to send us her documents, a few days later, I received a large packet in the mail. I showed it to Jennifer Titus and told her about the allegations.
We talked with the woman over the phone. She was concerned the program would end and her house would not be completed. She had been to court and felt like she had exhausted her resources, so she had turned to 10 Investigates for help.
She ended up deciding that she didn’t want to talk with us on camera out of fear it would have repercussions for her project, but by then, we had found there were complaints to the state about how people were dealing with varying problems.
So, then we researched even more, finding a Facebook page with more than 100 members alleging the Rebuild Florida Hurricane Irma Repair and Replacement program neglected them. People sharing their stories, saying they were still waiting to get into a home after all these years.
Some said it was their parents' homes being fixed and that they had passed away while they were waiting. Then, there were the stories of people who had moved back in, but the work was shoddy and had nothing that was promised from the original scope of work. People complained of issues — from broken windows to black mold — that forced them to evacuate again.
They all said they had asked for answers but never received any replies, so we started asking the state about the program.
FloridaCommerce, which used to be called the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, oversees the program. It received money from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD. FloridaCommerce told us that most homes were complete, but more than 200 homes were still waiting for completion.
We then found a letter the Secretary of FloridaCommerce wrote in 2022 to the Federal Government asking for more money because there wasn’t enough money left to finish.
HUD replied almost a year later, telling the state there wasn’t any more money to give.
That’s when we decided to look at how the money was spent and where it all went.
Not long after our investigation started, we realized our colleague, First Coast News anchor Heather Crawford, was also looking into complaints about the Rebuild Florida program. Our investigative team had recently worked with her on a different story, so we decided to team up again to see what we could uncover.
How this got started at First Coast News:
Crawford: In February, a viewer commented on my Facebook page that we needed to investigate Rebuild Florida.
He joined the program after Hurricane Irma damaged his mobile home. He was eligible to have his home replaced but said what he received was not what he was promised.
He was concerned about how taxpayer money was being used, the lack of response from those overseeing the program, and the apparent lack of oversight. I asked him to send me more information, and he shared how he had filed complaint after complaint to no avail.
He was desperate to get help, frustrated and feeling forgotten, and I quickly learned he wasn’t the only homeowner struggling to get help.
He invited me to join the “Rebuild Florida Neglected Victims” Facebook page, and once there, I read the stories of dozens of homeowners who shared their frustrations with the Rebuild Florida program.
When 10 Tampa Bay and First Coast News teamed up, we discovered these problems span the state. So, we raised questions about how millions of dollars of taxpayer money is being spent.
Together, we are working to shine the spotlight on what we’ve uncovered to spark change, get these homeowners the help they were promised, and ensure taxpayer money isn’t being wasted.
