Miguel Díaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz attended the inauguration on Saturday of the first two modular homes built from shipping containers, held in Havana's Nuevo Vedado neighborhood. The official propaganda presented the event as a "creative solution" to the devastating housing crisis affecting the island.
The beneficiaries were Alina Hinojosa Cardona, mother of two teenagers who was living in overcrowded conditions, and Nerelys Madan Catalá, who had been in a shelter for over 13 years with her son and her elderly mother.
The event also featured the presence of the Minister of the Interior, General Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas; the Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee, Roberto Morales Ojeda; and the Secretary of the Council of Ministers, General José Amado Ricardo Guerra, among other authorities from the Political Bureau.
According to Marrero Cruz, the program originated from suggestions by Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, who proposed to reuse the containers in which China sends parts for photovoltaic solar panel parks. The two homes, with different designs, were built in just one month using leftovers from investment processes in tourism and technologies developed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
The Prime Minister himself acknowledged at the event that the program "is not progressing as quickly as desired; it is being implemented, but it can be done faster."
The backdrop of the event is a housing crisis that the regime has been unable to resolve: the official deficit amounts to 806,000 homes, although other estimates raise it to over 929,000 units, including new constructions and rehabilitations.
In 2024, Cuba built only 7,427 housing units, with cement production at 10% of its installed capacity, and in the first quarter of 2025 the housing plan was fulfilled by just 12.4%, with only 1,344 units completed out of the 10,795 planned.
Thirty-five percent of the Cuban housing fund is in poor or fair technical condition, and around 1,000 buildings collapse each year in Havana.
In light of that systematic failure, the delivery of only two homes in the capital —in the presence of the president and the prime minister— highlights the gap between official propaganda and the real magnitude of the problem.
By April 2026, the program had delivered only 133 units nationwide.
The program is not free either: the cost is around one million Cuban pesos per unit, which is more than ten years of average salary, and beneficiaries must pay for it on credit.
Additionally, residents in El Cerro and Guantánamo have reported leaks, electrical failures, faulty plumbing, and lack of thermal insulation in the homes that have already been delivered.
The General Director of Housing at the Ministry of Construction, Delilah Díaz Fernández, reported that there are over 2,000 containers released for this purpose and around 700 undergoing transformation in workshops, with a total of more than 8,000 units available. "The program is a significant potential and is here to stay," she stated.
The Cuban government acknowledged in November 2025 the failure of the housing program and has turned to alternative solutions due to the inability to meet the goal of 50,000 houses per year promised since 2018, a figure that has never been achieved in more than six decades of communist dictatorship.
Marrero Cruz concluded the event with a promise: "The project and construction of these two homes motivates and excites us to continue with this program," he stated in the face of a housing deficit that exceeds 800,000 units and continues to grow.
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