Public housing in Puerto Rico

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Public housing in Puerto Rico is a subsidized system of housing units, mostly consisting of housing projects (Residenciales in Spanish), which are provided for low-income and impoverished families in Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States. The system is financed with federally funded programs from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

1 Organization
- 1.1 Eligible tenants
2 Criticism
3 List of public housing projects in Puerto Rico
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Organization

Operating funds are provided by HUD for tenant rent subsidizing and for the construction, acquisition, maintenance, and operations of public housing projects, which are in turn administered by several entities throughout the island called Public Housing Agencies (PHAs). The main Public Housing Agency in Puerto Rico is the Public Housing Administration (Administración de Vivienda Pública, or AVP, in Spanish) under the Puerto Rico Department of Housing (Departamento de Vivienda in Spanish). Other Public Housing Agencies include certain municipalities which are authorized by HUD and commonwealth law to operate housing projects independent of the main state PHA. All PHAs can contract a Management Agent (usually a for-profit enterprise) to manage day-to-day operations, including processing tenant complaints, housing unit repairs, and overall project maintenance.

HUD also allows private non-profit organizations and for-profit enterprises to manage housing projects as PHAs, offering program funding and tax incentives in order to compensate for operating costs. However, these types of public housing projects are not as common in Puerto Rico as those which are managed by the state.

The PHA is responsible for providing adequate living arrangements for program tenants, in compliance with Housing Quality Standards (HQS) set by HUD. Additionally, the PHA must manage all federal funds received in an efficient and reasonable way, in compliance with HUD prescribed guidelines and with Chapter 24 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Management Agents are also required to comply with these standards.

The USDA provides federal loan programs (including direct loans or loan guarantees) to PHAs for the construction of new public housing projects or acquisition of existing living complexes to convert into public projects.

[edit] Eligible tenants

The tenant rent subsidizing system allows low-income and impoverished individuals and families to reside in a subsidized housing unit just as long as their income status complies with federal regulations. Families wanting to participate must first be included in a Waiting List, which includes all citizens applying for subsidized housing by order of application date. Families must therefore “wait until their turn” for eligibility as the PHA selects families by that order, a process which in Puerto Rico may take several years. Applicants must provide evidence of low-income status (HUD recommends a copy of a filed income tax return) and are granted a housing unit for which HUD will subsidize its rent.

[edit] Criticism

The public housing system in Puerto Rico has received much criticism both within and outside the island. Critics state that a relatively larger portion of the island’s population participates in this housing system than in the United States, because the program fosters indolence instead of progress. They argue that participants do not see the need of obtaining housing on their own, seeing as it would require obtaining additional wealth through extra work, a fact which is less appealing when considering that this additional wealth would make them ineligible for other federal assistance programs, such as the Temporary Aid for Needy Families and the Nutritional Assistance Program (PAN in Spanish). This situation has led some to state that these programs are actually incentives for low-income families in Puerto Rico to remain in their social status, and some have even gone as far as naming Puerto Rico the “Welfare Island”.^[1]

Supporters of the system argue that since Puerto Rico’s annual income per person is $12,000 (2004),^[1] a figure much lower than in the United States, this explains why a relatively larger portion of the island population participates in the system. Furthermore, land values have increased dramatically within the last two decades while unemployment and inflation rates are high, making it extremely difficult for impoverished families to obtain housing on their own.

[edit] List of public housing projects in Puerto Rico

The following is a list of public housing projects located in Puerto Rico, and includes those that are managed by the state, by municipalities, and by private non-profit and for-profit entities: