Puerto Rico is no stranger to hurricanes and natural disasters, with individuals preparing on a yearly basis to weather these storms with non-perishable food, reinforced homes and structures, and family safety plans. This resiliency is built into the DNA of the Caribbean and into two disaster recovery projects—Sabana Village Apartments and the Puerto Rico Medical Center Micro-Grid—that were recently visited by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Marion McFadden (PDAS) from the HUD Office of Community Planning and Development; Rosanna Torres, Advisor on Puerto Rico Affairs, Office of the Secretary; Efraín Maldonado, San Juan Field Office Director; and Laura Rivera, Coordinating Officer for Disaster Recovery. These projects were developed using Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds, administered by the Puerto Rico Department of Housing, as Puerto Rico continues to recover from Hurricanes Irma and Maria (2018).

Sabana Village, located in the capital city of San Juan, is an affordable housing project that was recently renovated to include green building elements such as solar panels, energy-efficient appliances, storm-resistant façade elements, and a recycling station with nearly $10 million in CDBG-DR Gap Funding. The developer, Lucha Contra el SIDA, is a long-time HUD partner that has developed many affordable housing projects and manages emergency housing shelters and programs focused on HIV/AIDS patients and homeless individuals.

The HUD Leadership Team also visited the island's main public hospital Centro Médico in San Juan to be part of the signing of an agreement between the Government of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Department of Energy for the construction of an electric microgrid for Centro Médico. It is the first project of the Energy Reliability and Resiliency Program (ER-2), funded by CDBG-DR funds with an allocation of $1.3 million for the administration of the project. Currently, Centro Médico serves as the main medical services center for trauma cases in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean and shelters the Medical Sciences Campus of the University of Puerto Rico, the Oncological Hospital and the Industrial Hospital, among other critical medical facilities.

After Hurricanes Irma and María, countless hospitals and essential services in Puerto Rico experienced catastrophic failures due to the continuous lack and inconsistency of electricity, which resulted in deaths and aggravated effects on public health. The Centro Médico Microgrid will increase the reliability and resilience of the hospital's operation and all its components, as well as obtain savings in the cost of electrical energy as a secondary benefit.

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