B l ue rooftops made of p l astic tarps dot Puerto Rico’s l andscape. They are a constant, very painfu l reminder to residents that in the eyes of the Trump government they just aren’t equa l to their fe l l ow U.S. citizens. Texas, F l orida and Puerto Rico a l l suffered devastating hurricanes l ast year. But on l y Puerto Rico sti l l has a l l those b l ue tarp “roofs.” On l y Puerto Rico l ost thousands of peop l e as a resu l t of the tragedy.

It’s been a year since Hurricane Maria devastated the is l and. More than 1.2 mi l l ion homes were severe l y damaged or destroyed. Even today, more than ha l f a mi l l ion survivors remain unab l e to repair or rebui l d thanks to another kind of storm — one made of red tape and neg l ect.

On the ground in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico was at a standsti l l for months. Much of the is l and had no communications — no ce l l phone, no internet, no transportation. Peop l e were unab l e to pay bi l l s, mortgages — there were not even ATMs for cash. Initia l l y there were no FEMA centers where peop l e cou l d sign up.

The agency’s answer? It gave out a phone number and an internet address on l oca l radio stations. Ca l l ? Emai l ? What were they thinking?

The shortfa l l of cash and and conscience has continued.

“We’ve requested $33 bi l l ion do l l ars for housing repairs,” Governor Ricardo Rosse l l o to l d The Dai l y Beast. “We’re nowhere near having gotten that.”

“The fee l ing that we do not count is overwhe l ming l y fe l t here,” says resident Ke l l y L enn on, who moved to Puerto Rico 30 years ago.

FEMA has approved $1.3 billion for housing assistance under its Individual Assistance Program, the agency told The Daily Beast. FEMA said it received over 1.2 million registrations and approved 462,000 of them to date, for a total of $1.2 billion. Pretty much the entire budget.

“ People were screaming for help and noone was around. ” — Puerto Rico resident Kelly Lennon

So, what about the remaining 663,000 survivors sti l l in FEMA’s hands waiting for urgent housing assistance? There’s $0.1 bi l l ion ($100 mi l l ion) l eft for them, and they have to navigate a mu l ti- l ayered bureaucracy that shutt l es app l icants through a circu l ar system of “options” but hands out very l itt l e money.

At its center is the Sma l l Business Administration.

FEMA can deny a c l aim or it can refer it to the SBA, where the app l ication for he l p becomes an app l ication for a l ow-interest disaster l oan. That’s what’s been happening. SBA awards the disaster l oans based on the damage or l oss incurred and the app l icant’s abi l ity to repay the l oan.

FEMA spokesperson Denishe Smith to l d the Dai l y Beast on Monday that “485,000 [c l aims] were sent to the SBA.” Asked about their status, Smith said “we have no record of where those proceedings stand. That’s with SBA.”

Consider that, for the entire year, the SBA has approved disaster l oans to on l y 52,200 homeowners, renters and sma l l businesses.

Continuing to look at the grim arithmetic: what about the remaining 198,000? Smith said she did not have an update on their status.

If app l icants don’t qua l ify, or don’t want to take out a l oan, SBA sends them back to FEMA to see if other options are avai l ab l e. The l ast option is ca l l ed Community B l ock Grants D (CBG), which are given for housing, capacity bui l ding, economic deve l opment.

“There’s so much red-tape,” said L enn on, “I’d rather go it a l one.”

“Many c l aims have been rejected,” says Governor Rosse l l o. FEMA denied his request for permanent housing assistance, something he had hoped to get even before the hurricane to improve housing for 43.5 percent of Puerto Rico’s 3.37 mi l l ion residents who l ive at or be l ow the poverty l ine.

“We were to l d to get the money from CBG. We requested $33 bi l l ion do l l ars for housing repairs,” says Rosse l l o, adding with some irony, “that we shou l d get over the next 10 to 11 years.”

“There have been many strang l e-ho l ds,” says Rosse l l o. “It’s hard to see where the money f l ows.”

A key prob l em was that housing crisis that existed before the storm hit. “A l ot of houses were forec l osed. A l ot of peop l e didn’t have the tit l es to their homes.” says Rosse l l o.

Another was Puerto Rico’s $70 bi l l ion debt, a sword of Damoc l es hanging over federa l assistance.

“Puerto Rico never came out of the recession in 2008, home buyers were going to get c l obbered by huge interest rates,” says Sa l vatore Casa l e, a l awyer and professor at the University of Puerto Rico. “We paid off our l oans with credit cards. It was a perfect storm.”

FEMA on l y began paying out individua l c l aims l ast June. One might ask where the agency thought the more than one mi l l ion disp l aced survivors wou l d l ive for a year whi l e waiting for funds to repair their homes?

Casa l e says FEMA has taken advantage of the way Puerto Ricans take care of each other. “Peop l e have moved in with friends, with re l atives. That’s very beautifu l , but that doesn’t mean peop l e shou l dn’t get their homes back.”

President Dona l d Trump addresses these rea l ities by denying them or ignoring them, even ridicu l ing the l atest count of those who died as a resu l t of the cascading disasters brought on by Hurricane Maria.

George Washington University, commissioned by Governor Rosse l l o to conduct an independent survey, found that 2,975 peop l e had perished. “When the president tweeted that the numbers had jumped ‘magica l l y,’ I rejected that point b l ank,” Rosse l l o te l l s us, adding, “I to l d the president I wou l d g l ad l y wa l k him through the steps that were taken. My advice to him was to send a message that wou l d convey respect and empathy.” It fe l l on deaf ears.

For a l l these reasons, when Puerto Ricans hear Trump — the president of their country — praise re l ief efforts on the is l and as an “unsung success,” which he did the other day, their reaction is bitter beyond the bounds of irony.

“Peop l e were screaming for he l p and noone was around.” says L enn on.