By The Star Staff
Despite a housing shortage impacting low-income families, there is an inventory of more than 300,000 empty houses that municipalities could expropriate to provide much-needed housing for their citizens, according to information provided at a government transition hearing on Thursday.
Housing Secretary William Rodríguez, meanwhile, could not provide specific numbers as to how many houses still have blue tarps for roofs seven years after Hurricane Maria. Housing Financing Authority (AFV by its initials in Spanish) Director Blanca Fernández González acknowledged that she had 400 homes available and while she had $12 million in subsidies, it has not been used to provide housing.
Those were some of the highlights on the second day of hearings held by the incoming government transition committee.
Rodríguez touted the positive impact on more than 119,000 island families who benefited after the development and implementation of programs that guarantee affordable, safe and resilient housing.
“It is not only about making a home available, it is about making a home possible and that it serves as a stabilizing force for its inhabitants,” the Housing secretary said. “With the guarantee of a safe space, access to basic services, and a better quality of life for the communities, we managed to establish a solid foundation that encourages our people to stay in Puerto Rico. With this in mind we have worked during recent years, an effort that has yielded the fruits that we celebrate today.”
As presented during the hearings, the Department of Housing counts among its programs more than 10,000 families served under the Repair, Reconstruction or Relocation Program; more than 11,500 families who have managed to acquire their home under the Direct Buyer Assistance program; some 34 social housing projects built or rehabilitated, as well as the construction of 851 housing units for low- and moderate-income families.
Similarly, Rodríguez highlighted the impact on more than 2,600 people over 60 years of age under the Rental and Housing Improvement Subsidy for Elderly People with Low Incomes and recognition of more than 3,000 families with the Title Authorization program, among many others.
In addition to providing housing alternatives that are fair, safe and affordable, Rodríguez said, other objectives that have guided the management of the Housing Department during the past four years have included the generation of opportunities for socioeconomic development and the improvement of Puerto Rico’s infrastructure.
All the same, in response to questions from former Popular Democratic Party Rep. Jorge Colberg Toro, Rodríguez couldn’t say how many homes, other than individuals who sought the help of Housing, who are still living in houses with blue tarps seven years after Maria.
“To me, having people still living under blue tarps, especially children, is unacceptable,” he said.
Rodríguez insisted that all the people who sought help from the agency were given assistance, but he acknowledged that people who did not own their homes could not qualify for help.
Committee Chairman Ramón Luis Rivera Cruz asked Rodríguez about a survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Postal Service that found an inventory of more than 300,000 empty houses. Rodríguez said the agency was doing its own inventory and had already found some 50,000 empty houses.
Rivera Cruz noted that instead of spending money on building affordable homes, towns could use that inventory to provide housing. He said young people are having a tough time qualifying for mortgages to buy homes and criticized Fernández González, the AFV director, for failing to provide help.
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