Nearly eight years after the Murray family’s home was hit by Hurricane Irma, they say they are still trying to get it repaired correctly.
MONTVERDE, Fla. — Imagine this: it’s been almost eight years since a hurricane hit, and even though your house has been repaired, it still doesn’t feel secure. This is the situation Denise Murray and her family are facing.
Murray alleges that they are living under hazardous conditions due to subpar workmanship carried out through the Rebuild Florida Hurricane Irma Repair and Replacement Program. This program, funded by the federal government and managed by the state, was designed to assist residents of Florida in rebuilding after Hurricane Irma’s devastation in 2017. Murray’s home, located in Central Florida, was supposed to benefit from this initiative.
“I’ve got three inches of water inside my house, and during severe weather, you can feel the wind coming right through the door. Structurally, I don’t feel safe in my own home,” Murray explained.
She says the windows and doors installed under the program allow everything from water to even creatures inside.
The Florida Department of Commerce received nearly $500 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to administer the program. Murray says Irma damaged the roof of her mom’s house and insurance denied the claim, so her mom applied for the Rebuild program.
“It was a long process, but when they did approve my parents for the program, it did take a long time before anybody came out to the house, because they said they were very backed up,” she said.
But once they did, Murray says doors and windows started to show up. Murray says they questioned that at first, as it was the roof that needed to be repaired, but contractors told them that the doors and windows needed to be brought up to code, so those would be replaced too.
When the work began, Murray said issues started immediately.
“The windows have leaked since the day they were put in. They’ve been out here a couple times claiming they’re fixing them, but all they do is come in, caulk and paint, and they built a windowsill that’s supposed to help drip the water on the outside. But they had it up, so all the water was going inside,” she said.
She provided emails dating back to 2021 showing attempts to get the problems fixed. Contractors returned, but she says repairs were shoddy. She sent text messages, emails and made phone calls — many of which went unanswered.
“You send him an email. Nine times out of ten, the emails kick back because that person no longer worked at the program, and it just left you feeling with no place to go,” she said.
One of the last emails she received from the Department of Commerce was in June. It said in part: “Thank you for your patience as we worked through the warranty items at your home. We are pleased to inform you that the contractor has addressed all warrantable concerns, including the three minor leaks, as a courtesy. At this time, the remaining items including the windows, have been reviewed and deemed unwarrantable. As such, we consider this case resolved.”
Murray doesn’t consider the case resolved.
“This should never happen to anybody. I mean, there definitely should be a better process. There should be an inspector along the way who is inspecting the work that these people are doing. Other than them, because the Department of Commerce never came out here. They just relied on the builder saying what he did,” she said.
Her mother, who passed away in September 2021, never got to see the work completed.
“One of the last things she said to me was, I’m not going to live long enough to even see the repairs done for what I wanted. And that was heartbreaking,” Murray recalled.
Now, Murray says she’s concerned for her children who are living in the same home.
“I don’t have any confidence in the structural I got. It scares the me to death to think that there could be a hurricane,” she said.
The HUD Office of Inspector General is now auditing the Rebuild Florida program. The audit comes after multiple reports by 10 Investigates and First Coast News revealed delays, questionable spending and complaints of poor-quality work.
“We’re constantly assessing risk across HUD programs, you know, we have limited resources, but we’re constantly balancing the risks that we’re aware of, and there are a number of factors that go into our risk assessments,” said Stephen Begg, Deputy Director of the HUD Office of Inspector General.
We reached out to Florida Commerce with Denise’s concerns and about the ongoing audit. While they did not respond directly to her case, a spokesperson provided the following statement: “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.”
IEM, the third-party contractor hired to oversee all project contracts, was awarded a $252 million deal from the state. We reached out to IEM about the claims Florida Commerce made, and they sent us the statement below.
(Embed the statement they sent us 7/17/25 attached in teams)
This is FloridaCommerce’s Full Statement on the status of the Rebuild program:
“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.
To see our full investigation into the Rebuild Florida program and IEM, stream the “Waiting for Rebuild” special now on 10 Tampa Bay+ under the 10 Investigates section.
