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Miguel Díaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz attended the inauguration on Saturday of the first two modular homes built from shipping containers in Havana, in the neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado, at an event that the official propaganda presented as a "creative solution" to the devastating housing crisis affecting the island.
The beneficiaries were Alina Hinojosa Cardona, a mother of two teenagers who was living in overcrowded conditions, and Nerelys Madan Catalá, who had been in a shelter for more than 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 emerged from suggestions by Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, who proposed repurposing the containers in which China ships the parts for photovoltaic solar panel parks. The two homes, with different designs, were constructed in just a month using leftover resources 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 moving at the desired pace; it is being implemented, but it could 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 this number to over 929,000 units, including new constructions and renovations.
In 2024, Cuba only built 7,427 homes, with cement production at just 10% of its installed capacity, and in the first quarter of 2025 the housing plan was fulfilled at only 12.4%, with just 1,344 units completed out of the 10,795 planned.
35% of the Cuban housing stock is in poor or fair technical condition, and in Havana, around 1,000 buildings collapse each year.
In the face of that systematic failure, the delivery of just two homes in the capital —with the presence of the president and the prime minister— highlights the gap between official propaganda and the actual magnitude of the problem.
By April 2026, the program had delivered only 133 units across the country.
The program is not free either: the cost is around one million Cuban pesos per unit, more than ten years of average salary, which beneficiaries must pay on credit.
Additionally, residents in El Cerro and Guantánamo have reported leaks, electrical failures, faulty pipes, 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 more than 2,000 containers released for this purpose and about 700 undergoing transformation in workshops, with a total of over 8,000 units available. "The program represents a significant opportunity 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 its inability to meet the target of 50,000 homes per year promised since 2018, a number it has never reached in over six decades of communist dictatorship.
Marrero Cruz concluded the event with a promise: "The project and construction of these two homes motivates and commits us to continue with this program," he stated in light of a housing deficit that exceeds 800,000 units and continues to grow.
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