Nearly three years after Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico, tens of thousands of homes remain badly damaged and the island's first major program to repair and rebuild houses hasn’t completed a single one.
Wilfredo Negron stands on the rooftop of one of his properties securing the zinc roof in preparation for the current hurricane season, in Corozal, Puerto Rico, Monday, July 13, 2020. Nearly three years after Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico, tens of thousands of homes remain badly damaged, many people face a new hurricane season under fading blue tarp roofs and the latest program to solve the housing crisis hasn't yet finished a single home.
Puerto Rican officials say work is almost finished on the first 45 homes to benefit from the program, but it is not yet complete. Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico with 155 mph winds, and its center spent eight hours over the U.S. territory, obliterating the electricity grid and causing more than an estimated $100 billion in damage. An estimated 2,975 people died in the storm’s aftermath.
The territory’s government submitted its plans for using federal block grant money for R3 in June 2018. The first $1.5 billion for the program became available in February 2019, with another $1.7 million approved in February this year. He said Puerto Rico’s housing department is understaffed, and that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development also has imposed an unusually large number of requirements on Puerto Rico’s government to prevent fraud or misspending.
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