Ciara Billie was about to step into the shower of her newly built townhome on the Hollywood Seminole Reservation in South Florida when her ceiling began to crumble and an air-conditioning vent crashed down on her toilet.
For months, Billie said she had experienced problems with her home. The roof had to be repaired. The floors were buckling. And then there was the mold. It started on the laundry-room ceiling and popped up around vents in the bedrooms and bathrooms, Billie said, and crept up the exterior walls and onto the windowsills.
“I feel like the mold just ran us out of our own home,” Billie said.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida hired Miami-based home construction giant Lennar Corp. to build Billie’s home and hundreds more in 2019, hoping to give tribe members an affordable alternative to the region’s soaring home prices. Rents would be below market rates, and buyers could tap into tribal trusts for down payments. Other residents entered rent-to-own agreements with the tribal council…