The Puerto Rico Working Group of the Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) – an NLIHC-led group of over 850 local, state, and national groups working to reform disaster recovery – sent a letter to HUD Secretary Carson calling on HUD to ensure that public participation requirements are followed and that the agency’s counterparts in Puerto Rico are actively working with disaster survivors and advocates to ensure all Hurricane Maria survivors get the assistance they need to recover.
Three years ago, the worst disaster in Puerto Rico’s history devastated the island, killing over 3,000 individuals, damaging 300,000 homes, and causing tens of billions of dollars in damage. This terrible loss of life and livelihood – as well as the failed federal response – is a glaring example of our nation’s broken disaster housing recovery system and need for major structural reform. From the moment the storm ended, Puerto Rico has faced tremendous barriers to a complete and equitable recovery. The people of Puerto Rico were forced to respond to the devastation of Hurricane Maria themselves as the initial federal response faltered. After FEMA abruptly ended assistance for thousands of displaced Puerto Ricans, many were pushed into deeper poverty and, in worst cases, homelessness. HUD Secretary Ben Carson wrongfully denied over $8 billion in long-term recovery aid approved by Congress for more than a year and a half, preventing the repair and rebuilding necessary to ensure the island was ready to face additional storms and forcing 30,000 survivors to sleep under blue tarp roofs for years after the storm hit.
Even as federally funded recovery efforts finally move forward on the island, the lack of public participation in designing and implementing mitigation, recovery, and repair programs is preventing Puerto Ricans, including the lowest-income and most marginalized survivors, from receiving the assistance they deserve.
The input of Hurricane Maria survivors and their advocates must be a central and required aspect of recovery from the storm. By ensuring their opinions and desires are valued and incorporated into federally funded recovery plans, we can honor the memories of those lost in the storm, center the needs of survivors, and ensure that such devastation and suffering does not happen again.
Read the Puerto Rico Working Group's Letter to Secretary Carson at: https://bit.ly/306ARty