Project Report
| Oct 27, 2023
Peak season about to end. Crisis averted?
By Ariadna Godreau Aubert | Founder and Director
While the official end date of the peak hurricane season is November 30, going through September and October without significant storm or hurricane warnings brings relief to many on the Island. As we seek space in this pause to assess and demand recovery progress, we know people remain unsafe.
Recent access to information requests directed to the local government shows that only 5,592 families (of 28,000+ applicants) have been able to repair or rebuild their homes with long-term recovery funds fully. This means that the unmet needs remain, aggravated by the passage of time but also by inflation and heightened economic disparity. Press coverage, using part of Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico's work and research and basis, and testimonies of those who suffer the consequences of unfair recovery reveal serious mismanagement of public funds and the risk of shoddy work for applicants and future generations. Moreover, in recent days, hurricane Otis went from being a tropical storm to a Category 5 monster, leaving little doubt about the devastating consequences of climate change and the urgency to remain alert. At all times.
We have a lot of work to do with the people we accompany to courts and administrative forums with the organizations and people we educate about recovery and housing issues. This is not a break. This is a space for action. We need to use this space wisely.
Apr 25, 2023
Getting ready - a new hurricane season
By Ariadna Godreau Aubert | Founder and Director
As we approach the next hurricane season at Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico, we prepare to respond to the potential impacts on low-income families. We are eager to share with you some of the main components of that strategy.
- We continue advocacy efforts to ensure just recovery for survivors of previous disasters, such as Hurricane María, the 2020 earthquakes, and Hurricane Fiona. We are aware of the aggregated impact of catastrophes. The continuity of neglect threatens the right to housing and the right to stay of survivors elsewhere. Efforts include advocacy to extend flood insurance to at-risk communities, strengthening legal awareness efforts to ensure that owners with informal titles can access assistance, and monitoring how pending recovery funds are allocated and spent.
- Update our dashboards and data-gathering tools to accurately narrate how recovery is moving along and who is left behind.
- We are preparing a KYR agenda to visit and contact communities and organizations who collaborate in just recovery efforts as first response groups, supporters, and advocates. We are ready to start our brigades in June and visit different Puerto Rico areas.
- Use our radio program and social media outreach to create awareness of the rights of survivors amidst disasters.
- We included an initiative to support nonprofits throughout disasters, assisting those interested in seeking recovery assistance.
Dec 24, 2022
Long term commitment towards a just recovery
By Ariadna Godreau Aubert | Founder and Director
When 2022 started, Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico's team sat around a planning table to discuss if a permanent long-term disaster legal aid program was needed or if we needed to pivot the project instead. Although committed and involved in the attention of several hundred families still awaiting assistance after the impact of María in 2017 and the 2020 earthquakes, we felt it was time to shift our strategy, prioritize bolder demands and work on climate and housing justice for survivors. Hurricane Fiona, which im[acted on the Island in 2022, gave us a quick, condensed, and violent lesson about the relevance of these long legal empowerment and advocacy efforts. That's when we decided to reach out to you again and renew our strategy. We now integrate a more conscious racial perspective of disaster recovery equity and amplify bolder advocacy at federal and local levels. You answered. We wanted to finish this year with a report summarizing how your support and the support from fellow funders and donors have made a just recovery strategy new, more agile, and effective. This year, our just recovery program accompanied nearly 1350 families. We provided legal education and legal accompaniment and promoted advocacy next to survivors and groups that demand their right to equitable access to funds, dignified housing, and climate justice. We shifted our program to invest more in media, outreach, and policy reports that could create long and sustainable changes in procedures that impact survivors. Moreover, we were able to do more in less time. Your trust has been instrumental. We ask you to continue supporting this effort, even when an active disaster is not present. Instead of a long-term disaster legal aid program, we need a permanent commitment to Just Recovery.