Notes for a Planning and Public Policy Framework for Housing in Puerto Rico
Published on October 12, 2018
Puerto Rico has now fully entered the stage of reconstruction after hurricanes Irma and Maria. Nearly $30 billion in federal funds have been designated for post-disaster work,1 of which over $20 billion corresponds to Community Development Block Grants-Disaster Recovery funds (CDBG-DR) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Public Assistance program. Just as shortcomings in the energy infrastructure defined the emergency and relief stages immediately after the hurricane, this phase of recovery and reconstruction will be defined mainly by the urgent need for housing. Nonetheless, there is a profound fragmentation of visions and interests with respect to how housing and land ownership issues should be addressed—even more pronounced than the fragmentation that was seen with respect to restoring and rebuilding the electrical system. These differences contribute to the lack of a comprehensive framework for planning and public policy that will determine the path forward in both the short and long term. Given this situation, the Center for a New Economy (CNE) is seeking to complement existing efforts to arrive at a collective definition that can serve as a roadmap during reconstruction.