P.R. Laws tit. 17, § 113
In addition to their powers under any other section of §§ 101—119 of this title, all housing authorities are hereby authorized to plan and set up urban renewal projects. An urban renewal project, as the term is used in §§ 101—119 of this title, may include undertakings and activities in one or more areas composed within an urban renewal plan for the elimination (and for preventing the development or growth) of slum areas, blighted areas or areas in the process of becoming blighted, and may include any work or undertaking for such purpose which constitutes a renewal project, or any rehabilitation or upkeep work, or any combination of such undertakings or work. To this end, “rehabilitation or upkeep work” may include (1) the carrying out of plans for a program, voluntary or compulsory, for the repair and rehabilitation of buildings or for the making of other improvements; (2) the acquisition of real property and the demolition, clearance, or rehabilitation of buildings and improvements on the said property whenever necessary for wiping out conditions which are unhealthful, unhygienic, or unsafe; reducing overcrowding and traffic hazards; eliminating usances which are obsolete or otherwise prejudicial to the public welfare; or, in any way, wiping out or preventing the increase of blight or deterioration with regard to lands, or providing lands for public facilities; (3) the installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, public services, parks, recreation areas, or other improvements necessary for the carrying out of the objectives of the urban renewal project; and (4) the sale or lease of properties, or a part thereof, acquired in an urban renewal project area, for use in conformity with the objectives of the project, provided such sale or lease is executed in conformity with the procedure established in §§ 101—119 of this title for the sale or lease of property in a renewal project area. Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary contained in §§ 101—119 of this title, the Urban Renewal and Housing Corporation is hereby authorized to acquire real property within any area chosen for an urban renewal project whose delimitation has been approved by the Puerto Rico Planning Board, even when a Renewal Plan approved by the Planning Board for said area does not exist at the time of said acquisition. Likewise, the Urban Renewal and Housing Corporation of Puerto Rico is hereby authorized to take steps to attain and accept loans which may be granted by the Federal Urban Renewal Administration to finance said acquisitions; to grant the corresponding securities to guarantee said loans and to grant the contracts deemed necessary for said purposes.
History —May 9, 1947, No. 97, p. 226, added as § 16 on June 20, 1955, No. 82, p. 302, § 1; June 18, 1965, No. 44, p. 83; May 30, 1970, No. 87, p. 233, § 1.