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Despite receiving around 14,000 requests, the Department of Housing (DV) did not issue a single Section 8 voucher during 2024, as confirmed by Housing Secretary Ciary Pérez Peña.
This occurred despite the availability of approximately 700 vouchers.
Pérez Peña stated that the federal Housing Department did not issue any instructions to halt the distribution of these vouchers.
“This was a decision made by the previous administration. However, once we took over the agency, we met with each department to assess what resources were available, paying close attention to the essential services needed by the community. We discovered that in 2024, not a single Section 8 voucher was granted, even though there were 686 vouchers available for families in Puerto Rico,” she explained in a radio interview.
She noted that the agency began evaluating all requests to move forward with the allocation, although she clarified that this does not guarantee that any particular family will receive a voucher.
Pérez Peña confirmed that the federal Housing Department (HUD) did not issue any instructions to prevent the distribution of the vouchers.
“We are working closely with the agency’s career staff to review past decisions, but the authority lies not with the staff but with the upper management of the agency. […] I am sure we will have further discussions with the former Secretary of Housing. For me, the priority right now is to start evaluating all these families and to provide them with the available vouchers they need,” she added, acknowledging the troubling nature of the situation where not a single voucher has been issued.
