Forty-five percent of Puerto Rico’s renters carry an "excessive" to "severe" rent burden, with housing consuming more than 30% of family income, figures presented at a Capitol roundtable hosted by Senator Carmelo Ríos on rising rents and affordable housing showed. Ponce, Mayagüez, Aguadilla and Guayama residents are hit hardest; in the Ponce region renters pay up to 51.8% of income.
The average rent is $578 islandwide, but metropolitan apartments run $1,750 to $3,000, while the average home price in summer 2025 was $300,600, out of reach for most, and $629,000 in the San Juan area. The presentation identified a deficit of 54,915 affordable units for extremely low-income households, 33,000 units tied up in short-term or vacation rentals, and 335,862 vacant homes due to inheritance issues, absent owners or repair needs.
In fiscal year 2024-2025, 6,392 eviction suits were filed, and 20,142 families wait for public housing. Housing Secretary Luis Augusto Martínez Román agreed income limits for Section 8 and other aid should rise, noting the US Virgin Islands’ limit is double Puerto Rico’s. But the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will cut the subsidy parameter from 120% to 110% starting in 2027, a change Rosario said officials have opposed.
Public Housing Administrator said 10,800 vouchers, 86.1% of those authorized, are issued and lists remain closed.