New funding to address Puerto Rico’s housing crisis

Nearly five years after Hurricane Maria hit and wrecked approximately 60% of homes on the Island, the federal government has given Puerto Rico access to $18.3 billion in federal housing recovery funds. Of the $18.3 billion, Puerto Rico has so far only accessed $824,000, so there is still ample opportunity to address the Island’s longstanding affordable housing crisis. Housing prices rose 22% in the years since Hurricane Maria, despite some 750,000 homes being damaged by the storm and many homeowners never getting enough funding to adequately repair them. Meanwhile, the Center for a New Economy, a nonpartisan think tank, has published a new report concluding that the best way forward is for the government to examine need at a granular level, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, thus allowing focus on revitalization as well as reconstruction to grow local economies.

Poll shows many would support debt cancelation for Puerto Rico and territories

A recent poll by IZQ Strategies showed that 46% of likely U.S. voters would support a one-time debt cancelation for Puerto Rico and other territories in the event of either statehood or independence. Thirty-seven percent would oppose such a measure. Among Latinos, 58% support the idea and only 25% oppose it. When split by party, 60% of Democrats supported debt cancelation as did 29% of Republicans, showing there is a significant partisan gap regarding how to address territorial debt in the event of any status change.

Puerto Rico announces $7.6 million cybersecurity program

On July 6, the Puerto Rican government announced new investments and major upgrades to the Island’s cybersecurity infrastructure. The funds will be used to construct a security operations center at the Puerto Rican Innovation and Technology Service and to implement new protective services like endpoint detection and event logging. The services will be provided by the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a cybersecurity resource organization that supports state and local governments. The new effort will bring Puerto Rico into the top tier of jurisdictions protecting from cyber threats across the US. The largest known cyberattack on the Island happened in 2020, when the government lost $4 million.