USDA Rural invested $1.1M in housing assistance in Puerto Rico
To repair homes damaged by Hurricane Fiona.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development program awarded $1.1 million in subsidies to 145 families across four towns in Puerto Rico whose homes were affected by Hurricane Fiona, Maximiliano J. Trujillo-Ortega, USDA state director for Puerto Rico, announced.
The towns receiving the most assistance were Loíza, with $450,162 allocated to repair 11 homes, and Guayanilla, which received $561,665 to repair 16 homes. In Utuado, 15 homes received a total of $328,124, while Jayuya saw 12 homes repaired with a total grant of $303,593.
When broken down by fiscal year, $1.1 million will benefit 35 families in fiscal 2025. In fiscal 2024, 90 families were awarded grants totaling $2.6 million, while in fiscal 2023, 20 families received $491,979 in subsidies. Over the three-year period, the total grant amount reached nearly $4.2 million.
The grant pilot program offers low or very low-income homeowners loans and grants to repair disaster-related damages in Presidential Declared Areas. The maximum grant for eligible families is $42,920, Trujillo noted.
Repairing homes in rural communities presents unique challenges in Puerto Rico due to documentation issues and other obstacles, Trujillo said.
“USDA Rural Development Puerto Rico and its offices in Washington, D.C., have collaborated to find solutions to face these challenges and in turn serve as an example in other jurisdictions,” he said,
“For example, in the municipality of Coamo, emergency funds were used to subsidize the construction of a retaining wall. This innovation to the program is now available in other rural areas of the United States,” he added.
