TAMPA, Fla. — A U.S. Congressman is promising action for families living on MacDill Air Force Base who are concerned about mold, following a Tampa Bay 28 I-Team investigation.
Families living on MacDill Air Force Base come forward with concerns about mold
The I-Team spent months talking with military families who now say they need someone to fight for them.
Watch full report from Kylie McGivern
“These are our heroes and they need to have a place to stay. We owe them that and also their families," Rep. Bilirakis (R-FL) told the I-Team. "To see the pictures of the service members uncovering the mold and then hearing about the families being sick, it’s just unacceptable. And we’re going to focus on fixing this. I promise you that.”
The Palm Harbor republican was disturbed seeing the conditions the I-Team exposed inside base housing at MacDill.
Three different service members came forward, sharing the same concerns about the presence of mold, the health of their families, and the lack of action, they say, to improve living conditions.
The I-Team asked Bilirakis, after watching the report, to see if there were continued concerns, whether it was anger, frustration, or what went through his mind.
"All of it. Because we’ve been working on this for several years, there were some improvements, but obviously they weren’t permanent improvements," he said.
In 2019, Rep. Bilirakis launched a Congressional inquiry into mold concerns at MacDill and toured homes on base, calling for an informal investigation.
He thought the problems were fixed.
Then he saw the I-Team's video.
“I want to thank you, it’s very helpful when the media gets involved. And this is a no-brainer. This should not happen. And having those visuals will give me the ammunition I need to get this fixed," Bilirakis said.
Harbor Bay at MacDill is privatized base housing, owned by The Michaels Organization.
“We’re going to get on this private company as well, but I’m going to talk directly to the defense secretary, Hegseth, about this. There’s no excuse. No excuse," Bilirakis said.
The congressman's concerns echo those outlined in a recent letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and signed by 14 bipartisan members of Congress "to express urgent concern."
It says their offices have met with families stationed at several bases, including MacDill, and "all detailed 3 common trends: Exposure to toxic mold, the development of serious medical conditions and loss of property due to contamination."
When the I-Team contacted Michaels, the organization would not agree to an interview, answer questions, or address the work done on the homes of these three now former residents. Instead, a Michaels and Harbor Bay at MacDill spokesperson emailed this statement:
“We take pride in providing our communities with well-maintained homes through rigorous processes and oversight – including Air Force required inspections – to help ensure our maintenance and repair operations are lawful, safe, and consistent with our commitment to residents. Over the last decade, we have invested more than $45 million into restoring and improving homes at Harbor Bay at MacDill, while actively engaging with local stakeholders with our residents’ best interests in mind. We are aware that some former residents are being advised by a law firm and may be engaging in legal action. While we cannot comment on the specifics of threatened litigation, we take all residents’ concerns very seriously and our priority has always been and continues to be the well-being of our Harbor Bay residents, staff, and community.”
“They need to be vetted better. And there needs to be oversight," Bilirakis said.
I-Team Reporter Kylie McGivern: “So you’re confident, you said you promise there will be some sort of fix on this.”
U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis: “Absolutely.”
MacDill Air Force Base Spokesperson:
Our service members and their families are our number one priority, and we take complaints of any kind very seriously. As part of our responsibilities, installation leadership works to resolve resident/project owner disputes utilizing all command authorities necessary, to include providing legal support to military members, and elevates unresolved disputes with the Project Owner to AFCEC."
"The installation commander oversees Michael’s performance and provides a quarterly evaluation to Air Force Civil Engineer Center for Installations (AFCEC) and senior Air Force leaders to use as key process indicators in determining the effectiveness of privatized housing at the installation. Some of the criteria evaluated include quality of customer experience, resident feedback, and work order responsiveness, etc. MacDill leadership took the extra steps of requesting additional criteria in January that has been included in subsequent commander’s evaluations:
- Return all families displaced due to hurricane damage to livable homes by March 2025;
- Improve quality oversight of subcontractors on base;
- Create durable maintenance plans with quality assurance for maintenance work orders; and
- Improve communication with residents.
Installation leadership holds Michael’s, as the Project Owner, accountable to their contract through command and contractual authorities, including the withhold of incentives, in order to best care for our service members and their families."
"Installation leadership provides a quarterly evaluation that acts as a recommendation to the Air Force Civil Engineer Center for Installations (AFCEC) for actions to take, like withholding incentives. Current installation leadership has recommended and AFCEC has withheld incentives for the last two quarters in a row, with a third pending AFCEC’s validation now."
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