Puerto Rico will get $18.5B in recovery grants

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The U.S. government announced Tuesday that it will award $18.5 billion worth of disaster recovery grants to Puerto Rico to help repair homes, businesses and its crumbling power grid as the U.S. territory struggles to recover from Hurricane Maria.

It is the largest single amount for such assistance ever awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Deputy Secretary Pamela Patenaude said during a visit to the U.S. territory.

"Our goal is to get people back into their homes, get people back to work and to build a stronger Puerto Rico for future generations," she said.

The money will be issued through the agency's Community Development Block Grant program.

Patenaude said Puerto Rico planning officials will develop a disaster recovery plan in the coming weeks.

The announcement comes as 54,000 power customers remain in the dark more than six months after the Category 4 storm hit. Officials have said they expect power to be fully restored across the island by May, days before the Atlantic hurricane season starts.

Housing and Urban Development already had allocated $1.5 billion to Puerto Rico in February for post-hurricane recovery efforts.

Maria hit Sept. 20 and caused more than an estimated $100 billion in damage. It destroyed about 70,000 homes and damaged another 300,000.

The department also said it plans to award the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands $1.6 billion in disaster recovery funds to help it recuperate from hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Both storms left the U.S. Virgin Islands reeling. Hurricane Irma passed near St. John and St. Thomas on Sept. 6 as a Category 5 system, killing three people and causing widespread and significant destruction to homes and businesses. Maria passed to the south of St. Croix two weeks later, resulting in major flooding and wind damage to homes there.

Since the hurricane struck, tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans have relocated to the mainland -- a task as simple as buying a plane ticket. But finding work in their professions has proved more complicated.

Many have encountered hurdles in getting their credentials recognized, including the absence of documents that were lost or damaged in the storm, state requirements for additional training and applications for job licenses that can cost hundreds of dollars.

In states that have seen some of the biggest influxes of storm-displaced islanders, advocates and elected officials have proposed changes to help the teachers, hairdressers, medical technicians and others.

In New Jersey, a legislative proposal would clarify that professional licenses from Puerto Rico should be given the same consideration for reciprocity as those from other U.S. states.

"People are displaced. They're running into some barriers, and I thought it was important to clarify our law and fix it," said Republican state Sen. Thomas Kean Jr., the bill's sponsor.

In Massachusetts, people who have come from Puerto Rico are eligible to have licensing fees waived, according to the governor's office. In Connecticut, where the mayors of the biggest cities have appealed for occupational license fees to be waived, Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy said he does not have authority to do that himself but he would support legislative efforts to give the Department of Consumer Protection discretion to do so.

Financial hardship was driving many to relocate even before the storm, and many are now arriving without the extra cash to pay for licensing they might have already gone through in Puerto Rico, according to Samantha Vargas Poppe, an associate director of the policy analysis center at the UnidosUS advocacy group.

Information for this article was contributed by Michael Melia of The Associated Press.

A Section on 04/11/2018

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