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For nearly a year, we’ve been reporting on questionable spending, shoddy work, and a lack of transparency in a program to help those impacted by Hurricane Irma.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Almost a year after we started investigating a Florida program to help hurricane victims repair or replace their homes, the U.S. Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced Thursday they are auditing the Rebuild Florida program.
The OIG says it has notified FloridaCommerce that the audit is beginning. The state program is funded with federal dollars through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant. The OIG says the audit will focus on the Hurricane Irma program. Past audit reports have included recommendations to help the state of Florida improve the way it delivers services.
According to the OIG’s website, “The State has spent majority of its funds for home rehabilitation and reconstruction activities; however, it has not completed a similar percentage of expected homes. Our audit objective is to assess (1) the State’s overall program progress and outcomes including the status of the funding, the number of homes assisted, and the cost of assistance, and (2) the workmanship quality of a sample of completed homes.”
We’ve uncovered homeowners waiting years for their homes to be finished and dozens still waiting, as well as questionable spending of taxpayer money on hotel rooms and shoddy work. We took homeowner’s complaints to the Office of Inspector General in 2024.
“We greatly appreciate First Coast News, 10 Tampa Bay, and Florida homeowners for bringing to our attention allegations of potential fraud affecting the Rebuild Florida program. We encourage all victims of natural disasters to report suspected fraud, waste, or abuse in HUD-funded disaster recovery programs to the Office of Inspector General Hotline by clicking here or by calling 1-800-347-3735. Homeowners can also learn more about how to protect themselves from repair scams or contractor fraud by accessing our Fraud Bulletins at www.hudoig.gov/fraud/notices-alerts,” Chris Fontanesi, Acting Chief of Staff of U.S. HUD Office of the Inspector General said in a statement.
You can see all of our investigative reports by clicking here.
