October 2, 2025 • 11 mins
Tampa Bay 28 I-Team Reporter Kylie McGivern details a lawsuit filed by 170 military families against the owner of MacDill Air Force Base housing, alleging toxic mold, unsafe living conditions, and long-standing neglect.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us on the hotline. We have Emmy Award winning
Tampa Bay twenty eight investigative reporter Kylie McGivern. You can
find all of her work at Tampa Bay twentyeight dot
com and you can follow her on ex for more
at Kylie McGivern. And she's on to talk about her
reporting about a lawsuit found by families who lived at
McDill Air Force Base against the company that runs its
(00:20):
privatized housing. So, Kylie, you've done extensive reporting on this
really alarming and shocking problem. Tell us what you've learned.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, Ryan, what's so shocking with this is that this
is not the first time that there have been issues
with mold and concerns surrounding mold within the housing on
McDill Air Force Base. And the Michaels Organization is the
name of the company that owns and manages this housing.
And how this started was just several families reaching out
(00:51):
and as you know, for military families and active service
members to come forward and share with the air going
through in this way does not happen every day. I mean,
there is a lot of oversight with all of this,
and families reached the point that they felt desperate in
terms of how can we get help and feel validated
(01:14):
that what we are going through is not just in
our heads. And so according to that lawsuit, there were
issues including toxic mold that had permeated some of these homes.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And you went inside multiple homes for your reporting. What
did you see?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yes, so there are thirty nine families who are named
in this lawsuit as the plaintiffs. We went into three
of the homes of service members who ultimately were included
in that lawsuit, and one of them that I walked into,
I could see that some of the flooring had been
ripped up and then what appeared to be mold that
(01:51):
was underneath. And you know, I talked with the gentleman about, Okay,
what are we seeing here or why is the floor
ripped up? And he said, basically, we were seeing some
of the flooring come up. And then I kept pulling
back more of the floor and seeing more of these issues.
And it was just a striking image to walk in
(02:13):
and see that, and then some of the other photos
and looking at ourselves were looking within some of the
HVAC units. And then it was through professionals and experts
who had confirmed in their words that yes, this is mold.
So that is what we saw, and it was very
it was very quick a lot of this because you know,
(02:35):
we were talking with families as they were in the
process of moving out, so before they turned the keys
back over, you know, then they had sent photos of
their belongings by the curb side with a warning to others,
writing toxic mold on there. Again, this was in their
words and the photos that they sent. But when we
were in these homes, one of them, the gentleman, had
(02:58):
not moved he and his family out yet they were
actively looking the other two homes when I went in,
they were again about to turn the keys back over.
So it was a very quick process once we got
connected to be able to see some of that for ourselves,
because while there are attorneys involved in this lawsuit, as
(03:20):
a journalist, we've got to be able to come in
and take a look at things ourselves. And I certainly
don't pretend to be an expert and mold, but to
really be able to get eyes on some of the
issues that families are talking about, and then that was
detailed in that lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
We're joined by Tampa Bay twenty eight Investigative reporter Kylie McGivern,
These issues have led to health problems that have been
suffered by our own service members and their children, right.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yes, And that was something when we were hearing those concerns,
that is really what was the catalyst for many families
to kind of take this another step beyond the channels
that they had already gone through. I mean, when people
reach out to someone like me, an investigative reporter, I'm
not their first phone call, and when someone contacts an attorney,
(04:11):
I mean they had gone through these other channels before
it got to that level. And to hear the concerns
that they had for their children's health and just kind
of mysterious health issues that mysterious in the sense of, well,
what's causing this. You know, I'm in my early forties.
I haven't had health issues like this, you know what's
going on? Before families started to even think or question
(04:34):
whether there may be mold as some sort of factor
in this. And then as all of that is laid
out in the lawsuit, you know, this is involving entire
families and you could just hear as I was speaking
with these different service members, you know that they feel
this sense of responsibility of you know, I have put
(04:54):
trust in where I'm living in this base and this
company to watch my family as I am deployed or
on a mission or just away from home for long
hours where they may not be in the home as
long as their families. So it was very emotional to hear,
you know, these American heroes who were at a loss
(05:18):
of what to do to protect their families.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Emmy Award winning Tampa Bay twenty and investigative reporter Kylie
mcgiververn discussing or reporting about a lawsuit file by families
who lived at McDill Air Force Base against the company
that runs its privatized housing over the conditions they were
living in. So this is something that this didn't just
pop up. This has been an ongoing issue. What are
(05:41):
you hearing from McDill Air Force Base and leadership about
this company that's handling their housing and leaving their service
members in these kinds of conditions.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
McDill Air Force Base, you know, is measured in its
response at this point, just saying, look, we plan to
hold the Michael's Organization in Harbor Bay that's the name
of the housing on McDill Air Force Base to its contract,
and when we were reading through the lawsuit, it became
(06:16):
clear that that contract that the Michael's organization a lease
that they essentially took over, is a fifty year lease,
which I wish that I had more explanation on that.
I do want to ask more questions about whether that
is standard in a way that I'm not familiar with.
(06:37):
But it was very eye opening to see that length
of time, and I do think raises some more questions
about just what kind of agreements there are when it
comes to privatized housing and making the housing privatized on
not only McDill Air Force Base, but other bases as well.
And I don't know if that is if that's a
(06:57):
standard length of time with other bases. I wish I
had more insight on that. That was something that we
just discovered yesterday within that lawsuit, and.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
I would certainly have questions about whether or not these
kinds of issues seemed to me that they would rise
to the level of something that mcdalia Air Force Bace
could utilize to get out of that contract. But again,
that's above my pay grade. What about Michaels and Harbor Bay?
What are they saying about this?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So the Michael's organization when I reached out to them
once the lawsuit has been filed, basically said that they
had not they were not in receipt of the lawsuits,
so that it would be too soon for them to
comment when I had contacted them before though, because we
did some reporting before this lawsuit was filed with these
families and just their concerns. They did not get into
(07:48):
specifics with the three different service numbers that you see
featured in our reports. They just said, you know that
they of course their priority is their residents, but they
did not offer many specifics and did not mention anything
specifically to the effective concerns about mold.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Last question for you, what about Congress and their oversight
role in all of this. I know you talked to
Congressman Gus Biliracus. What did he have to say?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, so I did meet with him, and he said
that he wants to speak with the Department of Defense,
the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth personally about this and
bring those concerns to him. And you know Congressman Bill A. Racus,
we went to him, not only with him being in
this area, but he was very vocal back in twenty nineteen,
(08:43):
when there were congressional hearings congressional inquiries. There was a
separate lawsuit all again surrounding the concerns about mold on
base and specifically McDill Air Force Base. So when I
had reached out to his office, they said, man, we
haven't heard anything about this in a while, you know,
just thinking that it had been solved or that it
(09:04):
had been further along something. And so he agreed very
quickly to meet and talk about this, and on camera,
promised that there would be action with this. And I
mean just in my in my take sitting with him,
seemed very disturbed that we were talking about similar things
that he has been familiar with in the past. Now
(09:26):
this is a new families, you know, the issues specifically
laid out in that lawsuit. But in terms of what
he wants to do next, he said that he wants
to go directly to Pete Hagseth. And that is on
top of what we saw was another letter that was
addressed to the Secretary of Defense, signed by I want
(09:46):
to say around twenty It may not be quite twenty.
I apologize if I'm mistaken, but it was bipartisan members
of Congress who were also calling to look into this
more seriously. You know that this needs to rise to
another level. And that was before the lawsuit was filed,
talking about other bases as well with these concerns, and
McDill was listed in that. So it's not that there
(10:09):
have not been calls of concern and I will say
as well, earlier this year in January, Congresswoman Kathy Caster,
now that is her district, also wrote a letter, you know,
basically to the Michaels organization outlining concerns that there were
after the hurricanes and then mentioned longer standing concerns with molds.
(10:33):
And I apologize to keep repeating myself, but there have
been issues that have continued to come up and sound familiar.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Emmy Award winning Tampa Bay twenty eight investigative reporter Kylie
mcgiffern with a really important and fantastic report on this
disturbing issue a McDill Air Force base. You can check
out all of her reporting on this, and of course
a whole lot more. It's all at Tampa Bay twenty
eight dot com and you can follow her on x
at Kylie mcgifern. Kylie, thank you again for doing this
(11:00):
work for helping these families and for coming on the
show to talk about this. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Thanks Ryan, The Ryan Gorman Show on NewsRadio WFLA. Follow
us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show, and
find us online at Ryangormanshow dot com.
Joining us on the hotline. We have Emmy Award winning
Tampa Bay twenty eight investigative reporter Kylie McGivern. You can
find all of her work at Tampa Bay twentyeight dot
com and you can follow her on ex for more
at Kylie McGivern. And she's on to talk about her
reporting about a lawsuit found by families who lived at
McDill Air Force Base against the company that runs its
(00:20):
privatized housing. So, Kylie, you've done extensive reporting on this
really alarming and shocking problem. Tell us what you've learned.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, Ryan, what's so shocking with this is that this
is not the first time that there have been issues
with mold and concerns surrounding mold within the housing on
McDill Air Force Base. And the Michaels Organization is the
name of the company that owns and manages this housing.
And how this started was just several families reaching out
(00:51):
and as you know, for military families and active service
members to come forward and share with the air going
through in this way does not happen every day. I mean,
there is a lot of oversight with all of this,
and families reached the point that they felt desperate in
terms of how can we get help and feel validated
(01:14):
that what we are going through is not just in
our heads. And so according to that lawsuit, there were
issues including toxic mold that had permeated some of these homes.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And you went inside multiple homes for your reporting. What
did you see?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yes, so there are thirty nine families who are named
in this lawsuit as the plaintiffs. We went into three
of the homes of service members who ultimately were included
in that lawsuit, and one of them that I walked into,
I could see that some of the flooring had been
ripped up and then what appeared to be mold that
(01:51):
was underneath. And you know, I talked with the gentleman about, Okay,
what are we seeing here or why is the floor
ripped up? And he said, basically, we were seeing some
of the flooring come up. And then I kept pulling
back more of the floor and seeing more of these issues.
And it was just a striking image to walk in
(02:13):
and see that, and then some of the other photos
and looking at ourselves were looking within some of the
HVAC units. And then it was through professionals and experts
who had confirmed in their words that yes, this is mold.
So that is what we saw, and it was very
it was very quick a lot of this because you know,
(02:35):
we were talking with families as they were in the
process of moving out, so before they turned the keys
back over, you know, then they had sent photos of
their belongings by the curb side with a warning to others,
writing toxic mold on there. Again, this was in their
words and the photos that they sent. But when we
were in these homes, one of them, the gentleman, had
(02:58):
not moved he and his family out yet they were
actively looking the other two homes when I went in,
they were again about to turn the keys back over.
So it was a very quick process once we got
connected to be able to see some of that for ourselves,
because while there are attorneys involved in this lawsuit, as
(03:20):
a journalist, we've got to be able to come in
and take a look at things ourselves. And I certainly
don't pretend to be an expert and mold, but to
really be able to get eyes on some of the
issues that families are talking about, and then that was
detailed in that lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
We're joined by Tampa Bay twenty eight Investigative reporter Kylie McGivern,
These issues have led to health problems that have been
suffered by our own service members and their children, right.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yes, And that was something when we were hearing those concerns,
that is really what was the catalyst for many families
to kind of take this another step beyond the channels
that they had already gone through. I mean, when people
reach out to someone like me, an investigative reporter, I'm
not their first phone call, and when someone contacts an attorney,
(04:11):
I mean they had gone through these other channels before
it got to that level. And to hear the concerns
that they had for their children's health and just kind
of mysterious health issues that mysterious in the sense of, well,
what's causing this. You know, I'm in my early forties.
I haven't had health issues like this, you know what's
going on? Before families started to even think or question
(04:34):
whether there may be mold as some sort of factor
in this. And then as all of that is laid
out in the lawsuit, you know, this is involving entire
families and you could just hear as I was speaking
with these different service members, you know that they feel
this sense of responsibility of you know, I have put
(04:54):
trust in where I'm living in this base and this
company to watch my family as I am deployed or
on a mission or just away from home for long
hours where they may not be in the home as
long as their families. So it was very emotional to hear,
you know, these American heroes who were at a loss
(05:18):
of what to do to protect their families.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Emmy Award winning Tampa Bay twenty and investigative reporter Kylie
mcgiververn discussing or reporting about a lawsuit file by families
who lived at McDill Air Force Base against the company
that runs its privatized housing over the conditions they were
living in. So this is something that this didn't just
pop up. This has been an ongoing issue. What are
(05:41):
you hearing from McDill Air Force Base and leadership about
this company that's handling their housing and leaving their service
members in these kinds of conditions.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
McDill Air Force Base, you know, is measured in its
response at this point, just saying, look, we plan to
hold the Michael's Organization in Harbor Bay that's the name
of the housing on McDill Air Force Base to its contract,
and when we were reading through the lawsuit, it became
(06:16):
clear that that contract that the Michael's organization a lease
that they essentially took over, is a fifty year lease,
which I wish that I had more explanation on that.
I do want to ask more questions about whether that
is standard in a way that I'm not familiar with.
(06:37):
But it was very eye opening to see that length
of time, and I do think raises some more questions
about just what kind of agreements there are when it
comes to privatized housing and making the housing privatized on
not only McDill Air Force Base, but other bases as well.
And I don't know if that is if that's a
(06:57):
standard length of time with other bases. I wish I
had more insight on that. That was something that we
just discovered yesterday within that lawsuit, and.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
I would certainly have questions about whether or not these
kinds of issues seemed to me that they would rise
to the level of something that mcdalia Air Force Bace
could utilize to get out of that contract. But again,
that's above my pay grade. What about Michaels and Harbor Bay?
What are they saying about this?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So the Michael's organization when I reached out to them
once the lawsuit has been filed, basically said that they
had not they were not in receipt of the lawsuits,
so that it would be too soon for them to
comment when I had contacted them before though, because we
did some reporting before this lawsuit was filed with these
families and just their concerns. They did not get into
(07:48):
specifics with the three different service numbers that you see
featured in our reports. They just said, you know that
they of course their priority is their residents, but they
did not offer many specifics and did not mention anything
specifically to the effective concerns about mold.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Last question for you, what about Congress and their oversight
role in all of this. I know you talked to
Congressman Gus Biliracus. What did he have to say?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, so I did meet with him, and he said
that he wants to speak with the Department of Defense,
the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth personally about this and
bring those concerns to him. And you know Congressman Bill A. Racus,
we went to him, not only with him being in
this area, but he was very vocal back in twenty nineteen,
(08:43):
when there were congressional hearings congressional inquiries. There was a
separate lawsuit all again surrounding the concerns about mold on
base and specifically McDill Air Force Base. So when I
had reached out to his office, they said, man, we
haven't heard anything about this in a while, you know,
just thinking that it had been solved or that it
(09:04):
had been further along something. And so he agreed very
quickly to meet and talk about this, and on camera,
promised that there would be action with this. And I
mean just in my in my take sitting with him,
seemed very disturbed that we were talking about similar things
that he has been familiar with in the past. Now
(09:26):
this is a new families, you know, the issues specifically
laid out in that lawsuit. But in terms of what
he wants to do next, he said that he wants
to go directly to Pete Hagseth. And that is on
top of what we saw was another letter that was
addressed to the Secretary of Defense, signed by I want
(09:46):
to say around twenty It may not be quite twenty.
I apologize if I'm mistaken, but it was bipartisan members
of Congress who were also calling to look into this
more seriously. You know that this needs to rise to
another level. And that was before the lawsuit was filed,
talking about other bases as well with these concerns, and
McDill was listed in that. So it's not that there
(10:09):
have not been calls of concern and I will say
as well, earlier this year in January, Congresswoman Kathy Caster,
now that is her district, also wrote a letter, you know,
basically to the Michaels organization outlining concerns that there were
after the hurricanes and then mentioned longer standing concerns with molds.
(10:33):
And I apologize to keep repeating myself, but there have
been issues that have continued to come up and sound familiar.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Emmy Award winning Tampa Bay twenty eight investigative reporter Kylie
mcgiffern with a really important and fantastic report on this
disturbing issue a McDill Air Force base. You can check
out all of her reporting on this, and of course
a whole lot more. It's all at Tampa Bay twenty
eight dot com and you can follow her on x
at Kylie mcgifern. Kylie, thank you again for doing this
(11:00):
work for helping these families and for coming on the
show to talk about this. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Thanks Ryan, The Ryan Gorman Show on NewsRadio WFLA. Follow
us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show, and
find us online at Ryangormanshow dot com.
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