Public housing in Puerto Rico

[1][2][3] Neighborhoods in Puerto Rico are often divided into three types: sector, urbanización, and residencial público (public housing).

[4] 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).

Luis Muñoz Marín and headed by Juan César Cordero Dávila, to consolidate several state and municipal housing agencies.

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.

[citation needed] Klumb had previously done work for several municipal housing agencies, including Mayagüez' and Ponce's.

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.

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).

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.

Criticism of public housing in Puerto Rico includes that these types of dwellings are, by nature, a breeding ground for crime.

[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.