Centro Para Una Economía Nueva (Center for a New Economy - CNE), a Puerto Rico-based, nonpartisan think tank, hosted the second conference in their Blueprint initiative series. The purpose of the initiative is to facilitate discussion among international and local experts regarding solutions to Puerto Rico’s economic challenges. The event in San Juan on November 5, focused on housing affordability and rebuilding in the Commonwealth. NLIHC’s Kyle Arbuckle participated in the event.
CNE Research Director Deepak Lamba-Nieves provided opening remarks and Research Associate Raul Santiago-Bartolomei moderated the discussion throughout.
Former HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan spoke about disaster housing recovery issues based on his work after Hurricane Sandy. Mr. Donovan noted that much of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) rebuilding efforts center on “market value,” not on rebuilding communities. He commented that there is an opportunity to shift disaster recovery in ways that benefit entire communities and mitigate future disasters, remarking, “If the poor and vulnerable aren’t recovering, then you’re not recovering well.”
Mr. Donovan cited his work on the Rebuild By Design (RBD) project he helped implement after Hurricane Sandy. RBD urged disaster recovery stakeholders to consult communities to ascertain their needs and priorities in order to create lasting recovery efforts and help mitigate future disasters. RBD also sought to consider broader approaches to mitigation. For example, one project created an artificial reef off the coast of New York City that will help deposit more sand on beaches, which can mitigate future storm surges. An additional, more immediate benefit of this artificial reef was the establishment of new oyster habitat that has boosted the seafood economy and that serves as a case study for marine biology students.
Professor Elora Raymond, assistant professor at the School of Urban and Regional Planning of the Georgia Institute of Technology, discussed the foreclosure crisis in Atlanta in the late 2000s to 2010s. A building boom in the early 2000s resulted in the construction of more than 70,000 homes, the most in the nation at the time. This boom led to widespread real estate speculation and resulted one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. Ms. Raymond noted that larger management entities caused higher foreclosure and eviction rates than smaller entities. She described how land banks mitigated some of the adverse effects by acquiring vacant properties to be sold at a discount to lower-income households.
Professor Vincent Reina, assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed the difficulty low-income homeowners had accessing capital, a critical problem given the city’s older and often decaying housing stock (88% of Philadelphia’s homes were constructed before 1980). Creation of a low-interest loan program was one solution devised by the city. Mr. Reina also emphasized that affordable housing subsidies are set to expire all across the nation over the next ten years – another challenge that an older housing stock presents.
Michelle Sugden-Castillo, professional planner and housing consultant, presented a Puerto Rican perspective on housing affordability challenges, noting that 45% of Puerto Ricans live in poverty and 58 of the 78 municipalities have lower median incomes than the island as a whole. Ms. Sugden-Castillo stated that tackling income equality is a key component in the formula for addressing the housing affordability crisis. Carmen Melero, former vice president of Popular Mortgage and former FHA senior insurer at Banco Popular, along with Irma Torres Suárez, Legal Adviser, Cooperative League of Puerto Rico, discussed the shortage of housing subsidies in Puerto Rico and the problems resulting from faulty land-use practices.
Mr. Lamba-Nieves concluded, “Housing is an essential aspect of Puerto Rico’s economic development. The island faces serious structural challenges, including a high unmet demand for affordable housing and long waitlists for public housing that have kept thousands of families in a state of vulnerability for decades – even before the hurricane. The housing policy decisions we make now will impact migration flows, land use, and our capacity to adapt to climate change. With the Blueprint initiative, we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, but rather build a platform that integrates the diverse perspectives of issue experts, activists, public policy professionals, and community leaders. We strive to achieve this goal by promoting knowledge exchanges, fostering investigative projects, and supporting advocacy efforts.”
NLIHC looks forward to further collaboration with CNE on housing and disaster recovery issues facing Puerto Rico.
CNE’s website is at: https://grupocne.org