HUD and other federal agencies, including FEMA, issued a Housing Damage and Recovery Strategies Reporton June 29 summarizing the pre-disaster housing market conditions in Puerto Rico, recovery issues and challenges after Hurricane Maria, unmet needs, and a proposed housing-recovery agenda for the island. The report was drafted by federal agencies tasked with overseeing the Housing Recovery Support Function under the National Disaster Recovery Framework, a guide designed to facilitate problem-solving, improve access to resources, and foster coordination between federal and state governments after disasters.
The report specifies three goals for long-term housing recovery. The first is to stabilize the homeowner and rental housing market by reducing delinquency and foreclosures, decreasing the number of vacant or blighted properties, and increasing the supply of affordable, resilient, accessible, and energy-efficient housing. The second goal is to restore housing infrastructure by reducing the number of substandard or informal homes, decreasing the number of homes located in flood zones, and updating the island’s address system, among others. The third goal involves building local capacity to support housing recovery by developing and implementing outreach, education, communication, and training plans.
Read the Housing Damage and Recovery Strategies Report at: https://bit.ly/2mRYUrX