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Housing nominee William Rodríguez lays out recovery targets, hiring and funding priorities
Summary
At his Senate confirmation hearing, nominee William Rodríguez Rodríguez outlined plans to accelerate Puerto Rico's post-disaster housing recovery, target $1 billion in CDBGDR obligations this year, expand R3 repairs and hire 200+ specialists to process grants and oversee projects.
William Rodríguez Rodríguez, the governor's nominee for secretary of Puerto Rico's Department of Housing, told the Senate's Commission on Nominations on May 20, 2021 that his top priorities are accelerating disaster recovery, expanding program capacity and improving municipal access to federal grants. "Acepté la designación ... y inicié mis labores el dos de enero de veinte veintiuno," Rodríguez said as he outlined his administration's goals.
Rodríguez described a department with roughly $528 million in budgeted resources and multiple recovery programs, including CDBGDR and CDBG MIT. He said the department aims to obligate $1 billion in CDBGDR funds this year and to complete at least 3,000 home repairs or reconstructions under the R3 program with an estimated $450 million in CDBGDR funding. "Tenemos un estimado conservador de tres mil viviendas," he said when asked about R3 targets.
To speed implementation, Rodríguez said the department will hire more than 200 professionals in engineering, architecture, planning, environmental sciences, procurement, legal, finance and other technical fields. He also described a new public- and community-affairs division intended to improve communication among municipalities, the commonwealth government and federal agencies. The nominee said the department has already provided 52 technical-assistance sessions to municipalities and paid more than $8.6 million to municipalities in the first four months of his tenure.
Rodríguez said recent administrative orders eased procurement and oversight requirements to allow faster use of funds, and he described ongoing technical adjustments with federal partners to make large sums actionable. He told senators that some federal funding streams for electrical-system repairs (which he said total about $1.9 billion) are not yet available pending federal publication of implementation details.
Why it matters: Puerto Rico continues to face urgent housing needs after Hurricanes Irma and Mareda and a series of seismic events. The nominee's commitments on hiring, municipal technical assistance and explicit spending targets provide measurable benchmarks that the Senate and public can track as funding becomes available. The commission recessed with a schedule to receive additional testimony and to request documentary follow-ups from the nominee.
