The Department of Housing and Urban Development will allow Puerto Rico to access more than $8 billion in blocked disaster aid funding, ending a monthslong hold by the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the matter.

Puerto Rico, which suffered devastating losses from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, has received just $1.5 billion of the roughly $20 billion in congressionally authorized disaster funds that HUD is supposed to administer. The delay in receiving the additional funds had incensed both U.S. lawmakers and commonwealth officials.


The island will be able to access the latest tranche — $8.2 billion in disaster mitigation money — once a Federal Register notice is published outlining the grant agreement and how the money can be used. HUD blew past the legal deadline to publish the funding notice in September, saying it needed to ensure financial safeguards were put in place in light of recent political unrest on the island.