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The Cuban government acknowledged on Wednesday the failure of the housing construction program using shipping containers, one of the supposed "alternative solutions" that the regime had presented months ago to address the serious housing deficit on the island.
In a thread posted on the social network X, the official account of the Government of Cuba acknowledged that, despite releasing more than a thousand containers, the project has not made progress due to the slow pace of adapting those structures into homes.
"Although more than 1,700 containers of end-of-life use have been released, the delays in their extraction and processing limit the effectiveness of this construction solution," stated the official profile, citing conclusions from a national meeting held via videoconference.
The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, who also acknowledged deficiencies in other basic services, such as garbage collection, public lighting maintenance, the care of green spaces, and funeral services.
"There has been a lack of control and enforcement in complying with the approved regulations," admitted Marrero, who called for greater "sensitivity and immediacy" in addressing the complaints of the population.
The meeting also addressed the epidemiological situation in the country and the assistance to the provinces affected by Hurricane Melissa, which caused severe damage to infrastructure and housing.
The acknowledgment of the failure of the container houses project represents a new setback for the regime's housing policies, against a backdrop of a housing crisis following Hurricane Melissa, which has left thousands of families homeless.
This harsh reality faced by the victims is exacerbated by rampant inflation and a lack of construction materials. The limited resources available are not provided freely by the regime for people to repair their homes. Instead, they are sold and regulated, despite the fact that this population has lost everything.
The plan to build houses using shipping containers, announced with great fanfare in 2024 as a “quick, affordable, and eco-friendly” alternative, has failed in less than a year. The government itself admits that the project is barely progressing and is not yielding concrete results.
Meanwhile, thousands of families continue to live in temporary shelters, makeshift structures, or braced homes, waiting for a solution that never comes.
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