Thousands in Puerto Rico still without housing since Hurricane Maria

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Nearly three years after Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico, tens of thousands of homes remain badly damaged, many people face a hurricane season under fading blue tarp roofs and the island’s first major program to repair and rebuild houses hasn’t completed a single one.

Maria hit more than 786,000 homes on September 20, 2017, causing minor damage to some homes and sweeping others from their foundations.

A federally funded program administered by local officials carried out relatively small repairs to some 108,000 homes the next year, while churches and nonprofits patched up thousands with private funds.

A Puerto Rican government program known as R3 is the first major effort by the US territory to carry out major repairs and rebuilding of damaged and destroyed housing.

Nearly 27,000 homeowners have applied.

But nearly 1 1/2 years after federal funding was released to local officials, not a single repair or rebuilding job has been completed.

Puerto Rican officials say work is almost finished on the first 45 homes to benefit from the programme, but it is not yet complete.

For many Puerto Ricans, the programme’s slow progress has become a symbol of their government’s inability to address the long-term effects of the disaster.

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