Legal experts say it is a scene that will repeat itself in the coming weeks and months on an island that already was seeing a sharp rise in foreclosures before the hurricane.
News Story (Puerto Rico)
Danica Coto
Associated Press (AP)
January 24, 2018
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Tags: Disaster Recovery, Housing: Foreclosure
Organizations mentioned/involved: Legal Assistance Clinic of the University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Legal Services / Servicios Legales (SLPR)
News Story (Puerto Rico)
Danica Coto
Associated Press (AP)
January 24, 2018
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Tags: Disaster Recovery, Housing: Foreclosure
Organizations mentioned/involved: Legal Assistance Clinic of the University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Legal Services / Servicios Legales (SLPR)
DETAILS
More than 30,000 jobs were lost after Hurricane Maria, and some 30 percent of small and medium-size businesses remain closed more than four months after the storm, according to the island’s Treasury Department. Meanwhile, more than 30 percent of power customers remain in the dark and many struggle to pay rising utility bills.
Jimenez especially worries about people who cannot afford an attorney but make enough money to be disqualified from free legal services.
“A lot of times these people just freeze,” she said. “There are many who don’t even open the (bank) letters because they have no way to solve the situation.”