By The Star Staff
San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero Lugo announced on Thursday a new housing rehabilitation program to rebuild or improve deteriorated homes, with the purpose of allowing San Juan families to improve their quality of life.
In the comprehensive project, the family selects a contractor qualified to perform reconstruction work on their homes from the Housing Department’s Registry of Eligible Contractors.
Romero unveiled the first houses to be rebuilt under the program. They will be the homes of three low-income residents who earn less than $12,000 a year: Nilda Cordero Angueira, from Parcelas Falú, and Norma I. Díaz Malavé and Orlando Cabral Valdéz, both from Parcelas Hill Brothers, with a municipal investment amounting to $686,673. The houses will be completely demolished to make way for the construction of new homes in compliance with codes. They will have two bedrooms, one bathroom, living room, dining room, laundry room and carport.
“This new project means a lot to me, because it will forever transform the quality of life of these families, giving them the opportunity to live in the dignified conditions they deserve,” the mayor said at Thursday’s press conference. “This program is designed to give that relief and a helping hand to residents who, with the high cost of living, find it impossible to make improvements considering that the costs of materials and labor have increased significantly.”
San Juan’s Housing Rehabilitation Subsidy Program arises due to the increased cost of housing in the market, making it increasingly difficult for a low-income family to acquire affordable housing. Given the situation, the municipal government decided to change its housing strategy to address the rehabilitation of existing housing by the owners, so the decision was made to reprogram all funds from 2017 to 2023 and allocate them to rehabilitation by the owner. The amount of the amendment and the budget assigned by Romero amounted to $17.8 million approved as of Sept. 25 of this year.
To participate in the program, the interested family or individual must comply with the income limits established by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and other requirements established by the program. The property to be rebuilt or improved must be the primary residence, made of concrete and located in the San Juan area.
More information on the program can be obtained by calling (787) 480-5462 or accessing sanjuan.pr.
During the press conference, Romero also announced an innovative platform for managing and acquiring abandoned structures.
“This new public nuisance platform integrates, for the first time in the history of the Municipality of San Juan, the citizen directly into the complete process of public nuisances in a digital manner and seeks to facilitate and speed up the process of identification, declaration and rehabilitation of public nuisances in the Capital City,” the mayor said.
Citizens can use the link estorbos.sanjuan.pr to submit a request for a public nuisance complaint and may be guided on the steps of the procedure for declaring and acquiring properties in this category. They may also provide the physical address, sector, neighborhood, and the 16-digit cadastral number assigned by the Municipal Revenues Collection Center, and they also may attach photos of the property.
The new program also digitizes the request for an administrative hearing for those citizens who wish to have their day in court to appear before an administrative judge. Citizens may enter their complaint number and view and examine the photos and information contained in the complaint to ensure that the property is theirs. Likewise, the citizen may state the reason for requesting the hearing and any evidence they consider pertinent to help their case.
Citizens interested in any property available in the inventory of properties declared as public nuisances may fill out a letter of intent for the acquisition of the given property.
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