The candidates shared their proposals with Platea for developing affordable housing for young people and families.
Given the need for affordable housing in Puerto Rico, which has an enormous impact on the capital city, San Juan, Platea spoke with the two candidates leading the polls for mayor of that municipality on the podcast Punto Aparte. Manuel Natal Albelo, of the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (MVC) and the Alianza de País, and Miguel Romero Lugo, the current mayor seeking reelection on the Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) ticket, each laid out their affordable housing proposals for the capital city in separate appearances.
The current mayor of San Juan highlighted that there is an initiative aimed at "young professionals who move to San Juan." The plan is to help young people receive "up to 20 percent of the down payment on a home costing up to a maximum of $250,000." He explained that the municipality can help young professionals with an incentive drawn from funds available through the surplus of the special additional contribution, "which is money the municipality receives every year." He noted that the money can only be used for non-recurring initiatives or for the payment of public debt.
Natal Albelo acknowledged the need for housing in San Juan and the importance of integrating any development plan with existing communities. "I think there is value in thinking about city design from the standpoint of integrating services," the candidate said. His vision is for people to be able to get from their homes to their jobs without necessarily using a motor vehicle, in a city where they can walk to shared spaces. He also noted that, since a developed infrastructure already exists, the goal is to find ways to rehabilitate it so that "the municipal and central government services provided are centered in developed areas, where what is needed is to build housing."
Natal Albelo emphasized the need for housing for young students and the elderly, and said he will propose a plan to acquire currently vacant properties and develop them as affordable housing. In San Juan "there are 33,000 abandoned units," which is different from them being public nuisances, the former legislator clarified, meaning they can be reused. He mentioned a proposal for a land bank through which unused properties, which sometimes carry debts to the municipality, could be acquired. The plan also includes rehabilitating areas for affordable housing, short-term rentals, a first-home program for young professionals, and other initiatives that "can be encouraged from the municipality to promote the type of housing we need."
Romero Lugo also explained that public nuisance properties can be acquired by individuals through a process that allows the municipality to transfer them. He noted that residents can go to the San Juan municipality's website, sanjuan.pr, and look up public nuisance information and open the map, which will show the public nuisance properties available for acquisition. If an owner's name appears on a property, once it is declared a public nuisance it can be transferred to the municipality and then to the person acquiring it through a court process, the mayor explained.
The PNP mayor said they received a total of $5.1 million in federal funds to purchase public nuisance properties and convert them into housing with affordable rents. He noted that buying these buildings for rehabilitation is a "no brainer."
It is worth noting that several factors contribute to the housing shortage in the municipality of San Juan, including housing costs, short-term rentals, and a lack of new developments at affordable prices.
Last April, community leaders and residents of Viejo San Juan, Calle Loíza, Río Piedras and Santurce gathered at the Capitol calling for amendments to House Bill 1557 on short-term rentals. One of their demands was that short-term rentals be defined as a commercial activity rather than a residential one. They also said they were being displaced from their homes as rents rose.
Candidates for San Juan mayor will face off in the race for the municipality's top office on Tuesday, Nov. 5, when general elections will be held across the country.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
