Public housing in Puerto Rico

Urbanización Vista Mar in Playa barrio in Yabucoa

Neighborhoods in Puerto Rico are often divided into three types: barrio, urbanización, and residencial público (public housing).

An urbanización is a type of housing where land is developed into lots, often by a private developer, and where single-family homes are built. Non single-family units, such as condominiums and townhouses fall into this category.

Public housing, on the other hand, are housing units built with government funding. These have traditionally consisted of multi-family dwellings in housing complexes: in a barriada (neighborhood) or in a caserío público also called a residencial (public housing). This is housing where all exterior grounds are shared areas. Increasingly, public housing developments that look like garden apartments are being built.

Finally, a home that is located in neither an urbanización nor of a public housing development is said to be located in a barrio.

In Puerto Rico, a barrio also has a second and official meaning- the geographical area into which a municipality of Puerto Rico is divided for administrative purposes. In this sense, urbanizaciones, public housing developments, as well as one or several "barrios" in the popular sense of the word, may be located in one of the 902 official geographic areas which are seen on the Puerto Rico US Census records.[4]

David Dubinsky, Governor Muñoz Marín, and an unidentified man break ground for the ILGWU - IBEC Santiago Iglesias housing project in Puerto Rico, 1957

By the early 1940s La Autoridad Sobre Solares was addressing the issue of subpar housing in Puerto Rico.[5] A law passed in Puerto Rico in 1945 allowed housing agencies to clear slum areas (arrabales).[6] One of the provisions of the US Housing Act of 1949 did the same. As a result of the 1949 law, agencies in Puerto Rico sent plans for the construction of caseríos (housing) to Washington, DC for approval and by August 1952, the building of 9,890 new units across Puerto Rico had been authorized.[7]

Law 93-383 passed by the US Congress on August 22, 1974 for the improvement of residences, included Puerto Rico.[8]

The Puerto Rico Department of Housing, created in 1972,[9] succeeded the Urban Renewal and Housing Corporation, or Corporación de Renovación Urbana y Vivienda (CRUV, its Spanish acronym),[10] which was created in the late 1950s to succeed the Puerto Rico Housing Authority, created by Gov. Luis Muñoz Marín and headed by Juan César Cordero Dávila, to consolidate several state and municipal housing agencies.

Puerto Rico Housing and CRUV were responsible for the design and construction of many of the older "residenciales" in Puerto Rico.[11]

The first three public housing developments, Ponce De Leon, Santiago Iglesias and Caribe, are located in the city of Ponce. Henry Klumb provided early support for those efforts and one of his protégés, George McClintock was the first Architect-in-Chief of Puerto Rico Housing in the early-to-mid 1950s.

Klumb's designs are the 1945 design work for the Cataño, San Lorenzo, Lares and Aguadilla Puerto Rico Housing projects, Naranjito Public Housing Project in 1957, Comerío Public Housing Project in 1958, and Residencial Las Virtudes, designed and built between 1969 ad 1976. Klumb had previously done work for several municipal housing agencies, including Mayagüez' and Ponce's.

In 1973, José Enrique Arrarás became the first Secretary of Housing. He was appointed by Gov. Rafael Hernández Colón.

In 1993, then governor Pedro Rosselló had the Puerto Rico National Guard doing security work at some of the public housing areas where crime, related to drug trafficking, was most prevalent.[12]

Since their construction, there have been many occasions when families are evicted en masse, and the buildings are demolished to make space for the erection of some new type of housing, that doesn't resemble "public housing".[13][14][15]

Rear view of a public housing project, near Plaza Las Americas.

As of 2020, there were 325 public housing developments in Puerto Rico under the Puerto Rico Public Housing Authority (PRPHA) and being managed by Management Agents. 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 the 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 (Tax Credit Projects) in order to compensate for operating costs. However, these types of public housing projects are not as common in Puerto Rico as those that are managed by the state.

The PHA is responsible for providing adequate living arrangements for program tenants, in compliance with Uniform Physical Condition Standards (UPCS) (formerly 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.

The address of a residencial is not a street name but the name of the building itself. For example, an address at Residencial Luis Llorens Torres, with more than 2000 units, would have an address such as "23 Res Llorens Torres, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00924-1234" for apartment number 23.[16]

Supporters of the system argue that the average annual income per person in Puerto Rico of $12,000 (2004),[17] a figure which is much lower than in the United States, explains why a relatively larger portion of the island population participates in the system.

Criticism of public housing in Puerto Rico includes that these types of dwellings are, by nature, a breeding ground for crime.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]

In a small 2014 study of the female incarcerated population of Puerto Rico, they lived in either a "barrio", urbanización or public housing before their incarceration.[25]

The following is a list Puerto Rico Public Housing Authority (PRPHA) low-rent units, managed by municipalities, and by private, non-profit and for-profit agents, with some providing a computer room with internet access and library to its residents.[26][3][27][28] As of March 28, 2020, there were 325 projects (with 53828 units) and 4 protects being constructed (with 174 units) for a total of 54002 units.[1]

These, approximately, 54000 units are managed by Management Agents - A & M Contract, Inc., American Management, Cost Control Company, Inc., Individual Management and Consultant, Inc., Inn-Capital Housing Division, J. A. Machuca & Assoc., M. J. Consulting & Dev., Inc., Martinal Property Corp., MAS Corporation, Mora Housing Management, Inc., and S. P. Management, Corp., as follows:[29]

Public Housing Authorities are government agencies designated by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to administer federally subsidized housing units, which are known as Section 8 housing.[1][32]

Source: Public Housing Agency (HA) Profiles, US Department of Housing and Urban Development

• 
  Las Gladiolas public housing complex in Hato Rey before its demolition
• 
  Las Gladiolas site in Hato Rey after its demolition on July 25, 2011

• Public housing
• Section 8 (housing)

• Klumb: An Architecture of Social Concern, 2006, UPR Press, ISBN 0-8477-2754-8

• US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) official website
• US Department of Agriculture (USDA) official website
• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA), official website which provides information on all US domestic federal programs, including those of HUD and the USDA
• OMB Circular A-133 of the United States Office of Management and Budget, which provides details and insight on HUD program operations and compliance requirements.
• 200 Press Releases for "Puerto Rico + public housing" on DEA website