Comment Submitted by Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico

Introduction Individual assistance The Council recommends changing the current system, where aid is divided among multiple forms of assistance like housing, medical or funeral, for a single benefits package. Under the new model, homeowners’ assistance would be based on home property value and renter’s assistance on the amount of three months rent. While this may simplify the process, it moves to a system where more assistance goes to people with more money. A streamlined assistance package may leave behind those that have a harder time proving their ownership or the extent of their needs, and those who need particularized assistance because of special needs. Multiple and separate forms of assistance increase survivors' chances of receiving at least some assistance. After Hurricane Fiona, most people in Puerto Rico received FEMA funds for assistance other than housing repair, a possibility that was available because of distinct assistance options under Individual Assistance. Further, basing assistance on property value rather than recovery needs, creates inequitable outcomes for survivors in lower-value housing markets. It effectively ties disaster assistance to pre-disaster wealth. Survivors living in communities with lower property values may receive less assistance despite experiencing comparable losses and facing similar recovery challenges. This concern is particularly relevant in Puerto Rico, where property values remain lower than many jurisdictions in the continental United States while reconstruction costs are often higher due to the need to import increasingly costly materials, equipment, and specialized labor. In 2025, average price for newly constructed homes in Puerto Rico was $421,000; noticeably less than the $508,000 US average. The property value approach also does not consider that rebuilding in areas like Puerto Rico is more expensive than in the states due to the need to import construction materials by sea. Renters would be hit hardest. A three month rent assistance package, significantly limits the assistance available for this population. At Puerto Rico average rent, maximum assistance would be around $9,000, far less than the current Other Needs Assistance (ONA) cap. The proposed framework also fails to adequately account for the realities of informal ownership. In Puerto Rico, many families occupy homes through inheritance, succession arrangements, or other informal ownership structures that may not be reflected in traditional title documentation. FEMA's recent efforts to expand alternative methods of proving ownership, a process in which Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico and other Puerto Rico partners were instrumental, is an important step toward increasing access to assistance after Hurricane María. While the Council acknowledges stakeholder concerns regarding alternative proof of ownership, the proposed reforms contain no safeguards to ensure that survivors without formal title documentation retain meaningful access to assistance. Simplifying benefits without addressing documentation barriers risks equitable access to assistance. Finally, the Council recommends that states and local governments share 25% of the cost of individual assistance when currently the federal government assumes 100% of these costs. Asking governments to take up a quarter of the costs of individual assistance unfairly burdens poorer states and those more prone to natural events that may cause disasters and that may not be fiscally prepared to assume these costs. These states may even opt for not requesting individual assistance just to avoid their share of the costs and the expense of their people. Public assistance The Council recommends changing the mechanism for a federal disaster declaration. The declaration would depend on still-to-be-determined parametric criteria that would replace the Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA). Parametric criteria do not account for specific context, vulnerabilities, needs, and infrastructure of the disaster affected area. This new standard would likely result in fewer disaster declarations and less federal funding in places like Puerto Rico, where extreme weather events are more common, territorial government capacity is reduced, and the need to import construction materials makes reconstruction more expensive. Moreover, reducing the federal cost share of public assistance as low as 50% would leave survivors at an increased vulnerability as a disaster exceeds local capacity to respond to an event. Some states and territories simply do not have the financial capacity to adequately respond to major events without substantial support from FEMA. [Complete comments- See PDF]