After years of repairs, Rebuild Florida now plans to rebuild Christopher Corson’s Atlantic Beach home.
ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla — For almost eight years, Christopher Corson and his wife have been trapped in a distressing situation they anticipated would be resolved by entering the state’s Rebuild Florida program. However, the Atlantic Beach pair reports that the experience has been anything but pleasant.
“Every aspect of this involves taxpayer money, and it’s been completely squandered,” Corson stated. “It’s been a nightmare. Just a few days ago, when it rained, we experienced water seeping into our home again.”
The program, managed by FloridaCommerce, aims to assist Floridians in recovering from hurricane damage. Yet, according to Corson, years of inadequate repairs, poor communication, and escalating expenses have left him and his wife feeling drained and frustrated.
‘Miserable’ from the start
How would he describe his experience with Rebuild Florida? Corson says, “Miserable.”
Corson joined the program in 2020 to repair damage Hurricane Irma caused to his home in 2017. But despite multiple repairs, he says problems persist.
“Our house still leaks. They’ve re-roofed this thing like four or five times,” he said. “They’ve done nothing but Band-Aid after Band-Aid after Band-Aid … and it’s made it worse.”
Now a demolition
Corson says the state recently told him they will demolish his home and rebuild it.
Neither he nor the public knows how much has been spent on his home. Contracts that were once public have since been removed from the state’s website. First Coast News has requested those records multiple times, but FloridaCommerce has not provided them. The state says they are processing our request.
A spokesperson wrote, “While we are not able to discuss the details of Mr. Corson’s case, please be assured that the FloridaCommerce team continues to communicate directly with Mr. Corson and is actively working to address his concerns.”
‘Thousands of dollars wasted’
Corson says new windows, roofing, gutters and other materials — all paid for by taxpayers — will now be destroyed when crews demolish his home.
“I said, ‘Is Rebuild gonna come and pull all these windows out, reuse it, or what?’ He said, ‘No, if it’s here when we demo the house, we’re taking it off.’ That’s thousands and thousands of dollars of taxpayer dollars wasted,” Corson said.
Fighting for answers
After we reached out to State Senator Clay Yarborough, who in turn contacted FloridaCommerce, Corson says progress was made.
“He made a phone call. The next day FloridaCommerce called us and told us that they were gonna demo our house,” Corson said.
Yarborough shared this response from FloridaCommerce: “The issue is that his house needs to be rebuilt, not simply repaired.”
Still waiting
Corson says he’s tired of waiting and just wants the nightmare to end.
“I’m totally disabled. I’ve had 32 surgeries in the last 9.5 years and we’re both 62 years old and this is ridiculous,” Corson said. “I just hope they fix it, make things right, not only for us but for other homeowners dealing with the same thing.”
According to an email sent to Yarborough, Corson’s home is expected to be completed in December 2025. He says he’s still asking for everything in writing.
Meanwhile, the Rebuild Florida program is under federal audit by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Inspector General’s Office.
Read more about the federal audit and see all our Rebuild Florida coverage at firstcoastnews.com/rebuild.
