In a country enduring one of the most severe fiscal crises in its history, the Government of Puerto Rico continues to allow a hemorrhage of public funds that defies all financial logic: the payment of multimillion-dollar rents to private corporations. While hundreds of closed schools and government buildings become public eyesores overtaken by weeds, agencies drain the public treasury to enrich the owners of commercial spaces and luxury offices.
The Anatomy of Waste
The 2025–2026 budget reveals an unhealthy dependence on private capital, fragmenting state operations and avoiding the creation of an interconnected database that would centralize the bureaucracy.
Annual Spending on Private Company Rents (2025–2026)
| Government Agency | Private Rent Spending (Estimated) | Spending Impact |
| Department of Education | $31,400,000 | Warehouses and external offices while vacant schools sit idle. |
| Dept. of Public Safety | $14,200,000 | Barracks and investigation centers in private hands. |
| Department of the Family | $12,500,000 | Rental of commercial spaces for social services. |
| Dept. of Transportation (DTOP) | $7,900,000 | Total dependence on shopping malls for CESCO service centers. |
| Department of Health | $6,400,000 | Private warehouses for critical supplies. |
| Department of Justice | $5,100,000 | Prosecutor offices operating outside public property. |
| Department of the Treasury | $4,800,000 | Revenue offices paying rent to private developers. |
| ESTIMATED TOTAL | $82,300,000 | Capital leaving the public treasury into private hands annually. |
Questions Demanding Immediate Answers
For the authorities to be held accountable — or at least compelled to respond — the public and oversight bodies must raise the following investigative questions:
1. Conflicts of Interest and Lobbying: How many of these lease contracts belong to clients or firms represented by Politank or other lobbying groups with direct access to La Fortaleza?
2. Property Ownership: How many of these buildings are owned, directly or indirectly (through LLCs), by active politicians, former officials, or major donors to the ruling parties?
3. “Eternal” Contracts: How many of these government agency leases have exceeded 10 or 20 years under the pretext of “emergency” or automatic renewal clauses, without ever going through a competitive bidding process?
4. Resistance to Change: If there are hundreds of vacant school buildings and government centers (owned by the AEP), what is the technical and economic justification for not relocating operations there? What prevents the consolidation of offices into an interconnected public infrastructure?
5. Ongoing Investigations: Which rental contracts are currently under review by federal authorities or the Office of the Comptroller? Why have findings of irregularities in leases not resulted in contract cancellations or meaningful criminal referrals?
6. Defiance of the Oversight Board: The Fiscal Oversight and Management Board has issued clear instructions to optimize the real estate inventory and reduce spending on private rentals. Why does the government continue requesting millions for private landlords instead of allocating capital to rehabilitate its own properties?
The Blind Audit and the Lack of Accountability
It is unacceptable that the government acts as a submissive tenant while its own assets rot in the sun. The “external audit” has proven blind to this scheme, and the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board continues to approve budgets without demanding a clear and immediate plan to exit private rental arrangements.
The path is clear: identify who the true beneficiaries of those $82 million are, many citizens are asking the governor to cancel the contracts that do not serve the public interest, and compel agencies to relocate to the properties that already belong to the people. Puerto Rico cannot continue financing the profits of a few with money that should be funding the country’s essential services.
