JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In an exclusive interview with First Coast News and 10 Tampa Bay, a top federal watchdog says the audit into Florida’s Rebuild Florida program is expected to wrap up in about six months.

It follows a year-long joint investigation into years-long delays, shoddy work, and skyrocketing costs after the state received hundreds of millions of dollars in disaster recovery funding to help victims of Hurricane Irma.

Nearly eight years after the storm, some Floridians are still waiting for promised help to rebuild their homes. The federal audit now underway is looking at how the state is spending nearly half a billion dollars in recovery funds.

“Your reporting certainly helped inform the way we’re seeing the issue,” said Stephen Begg, deputy inspector general of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). “The work you all have done in highlighting the concerns from the individuals in the community, it’s definitely been helpful context for us.”

The Rebuild Florida Hurricane Irma Housing Repair and Replacement program, overseen by FloridaCommerce, is funded through a $480 million federal Community Development Block grant. The money was intended to help low and moderate-income Floridians repair or replace homes damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017.

“The goal of this audit is to assess the progress that the Florida Department of Commerce has made in their program,” Begg said. “We’re focused primarily on the outcomes that are being generated. And then we’re also going to take a look at the quality of the homes… assessing whether they meet quality standards both at HUD’s requirement level and at the local county code level.”

FloridaCommerce says it welcomes the audit and values its partnership with the HUD Inspector General’s Office. 

“We are confident that this investigation will support our assertion from summer 2024 that our former vendor, IEM, performed poorly and obstructed completion,” Emily Hetherington, FloridaCommerce Director of Communications and External Affairs, said.

IEM was awarded a $252 million contract to manage the program. That contract ended in July 2024. In May 2024, when we spoke with FloridaCommerce Secretary Alex Kelly, he placed much of the blame on IEM.

“Clearly, our main contractor IEM, clearly some of our contractors, clearly they were okay with abdicating their responsibility,” Kelly said.

However, as our reporting has shown, FloridaCommerce is ultimately responsible for overseeing the program.

IEM disputes the state’s claims. The company calls the allegations that it performed poorly and obstructed completion “false and misleading.”  

An IEM statement says in part, “Florida Department of Commerce selected the General Contractors who repaired or rebuilt homes. The contracts with these General Contractors did not hold them accountable for delays in home construction or failed inspections. The contracts placed limited penalties for missed timelines and/or warranty claims upon General Contractors. Furthermore, IEM had no enforcement authority.”

IEM says requests it made to FloridaCommerce to reassign projects to better-performing General Contractors were repeatedly denied.

“IEM’s recommendations to enforce penalties for General Contractors were repeatedly rejected, as were our recommendations to improve accountability and speed,” the statement said.

Despite repeated requests, FloridaCommerce has declined to sit down for another interview. Information on specific projects and contracts related to the program that were publicly available when we initially started investigating have since been removed from the state’s website.

Homeowners still waiting for Rebuild feel forgotten and many have complained about a lack of oversight and a lack of accountability. They want to know who holds FloridaCommerce accountable.

“We’ve talked with HUD extensively about the Department of Commerce, and they understand why we’re there, and we’re communicating about everything we’re seeing as we’re going. Ultimately, HUD will be the one to hold them accountable. We’re a part of that process, but that’s where the buck stops,” Begg said.

Begg says the audit team is reviewing dozens of homes across the state.

“This is a large program within HUD’s disaster portfolio. There’s a lot of funding, over $500 million available. And there’s information indicating that the Department of Commerce may be behind schedule in certain areas,” Begg said. “Based on our risk assessment, we decided this was a good time for us to come in and take a look at right now, while money is still on the table.”

The audit is expected to be completed by January 2026.

“As soon as it is public, that starts a process where there’s accountability on both HUD and the Department of Commerce to address our recommendations, and if they don’t address them adequately, then we’ll continue pressing for additional actions,” Begg said.

If you have information about fraud or waste involving HUD disaster recovery funds, the HUD Inspector General wants to hear from you. You can call the hotline at 1-800-347-3735 or report online at HUDOIG.gov. 

You can see more of our ongoing investigation at FirstCoastNews.com/rebuild.

FloridaCommerce Statement from Emily Hetherington, Director of Communications and External Affairs:

Regarding the Rebuild Florida Hurricane Irma program 3,880 homes have been completed. FloridaCommerce’s goal is to complete the remaining homes as soon as possible. We encourage this audit of the program and are grateful for the HUD Inspector General’s partnership—we are confident that this investigation will support our assertion from summer 2024 that our former vendor, IEM, performed poorly and obstructed completion.

In the summer of 2024, we participated in two 30-plus minute TV taped interviews, addressing the problems with our former vendor, IEM. The agency no longer does business with this vendor. The agency did not pay for any work that was not completed and has withheld millions of dollars in penalties from them.

Though we appreciate you shining light on the problems with IEM, your reporting on this matter has also been inaccurate and often wrong.** As noted, we’ve completed 3,880 homes and are diligently working to complete the remaining homes. Though costs have exceeded expectations because of the vendor complications, it is still critical these remaining homes get completed, and FloridaCommerce is committed to seeing that through as soon as possible. You’ve also, at times in your reporting, referenced complaints from individuals who aren’t in the program and other inaccurate information. We ask that you be specific and accurate in your reporting and note the continuing commitment of our agency to seeing these homes completed.

**Editor’s note: FloridaCommerce has not responded to our requests asking what we have reported inaccurately.