Puerto Rico Senate Vice President Carmelo Ríos Santiago told a multisector housing summit on Nov. 4 that the island is short 54,915 affordable housing units for its extremely low income households. ^[1] Ríos Santiago led the summit at the Puerto Rico Capitol to work on strategies for the affordable rental market. ^[2] He presented data that 45% of renting households spend more than 30% of their income on rent, and that 30% spend more than half their income on rent. ^[3] The same figures name a second number that sits oddly beside the shortage: 335,862 vacant residential units across the island. The gap is not only how many homes exist but how many families can afford the ones that do. The Census Bureau reported that Puerto Rico's total population declined in 2023. ^[4]