The Cuban regime presented to the National Assembly of People's Power the final draft of the new Housing Law, which includes a provision that would allow the State to appropriate abandoned properties and reassign them to other citizens.
Article 141 of the project published by the National Assembly establishes that if a property falls into ruin due to abandonment and the owner fails to take measures to recover it, "the Municipal Housing Directorate may request the competent court to revoke the right due to abandonment and make it available to the Municipal Administration Council for subsequent allocation."
For its part, Article 18 of the draft also reinforces this state control by assigning the Municipal Housing Directorate the task of keeping an updated record of buildings in a state of ruin and informing the Municipal Administration Council for their inclusion in investment plans.
When Land Use Planning declares a building to be in ruins, the municipal director of Housing may notify the occupants in writing of the deadline by which they are required to vacate it and their relocation, "if applicable."
The regulation is directly connected to the massive migration exodus that has emptied thousands of homes across the island.
More than 850,000 Cubans arrived in the United States since 2022, marking the largest exodus in modern Cuban history, according to data collected by El País, leaving an undetermined number of homes closed or rapidly deteriorating due to lack of maintenance.
Article 139 of the same project complements that authority by requiring all owners to "recover the usable value of any housing that is permanently uninhabited," even before it is formally declared to be in a state of ruin.
That chain is completed with Article 50, which states that the housing built by the State or placed at its disposal will be allocated by agreement of the municipal administration councils, according to priorities established by the Council of Ministers and other criteria defined by the municipal assemblies of the People's Power.
The project, signed by Miguel Díaz-Canel as president of the Republic and Juan Esteban Lazo Hernández as president of the Assembly, would repeal the General Housing Law of 1988 and its nine amending decrees.
Among the most significant changes is the establishment of management boards in multifamily buildings, which have the authority to set mandatory monthly fees for common expenses, with agreements that will be "binding for all owners," according to Article 157.
The text also reaffirms the limit of two residences per individual, plus one for rest or vacation, and imposes a 15-year restriction on those who receive subsidized properties: if they sell or donate before that period, they must return the total subsidized amount to the State Budget.
Property owners will also be required to keep the exterior areas in front of their buildings clean, between the sidewalk and the curb.
The project comes amid a housing crisis that the regime itself acknowledged in July 2025: the deficit exceeds 805,583 homes, 35% of the housing stock is in regular or poor condition, and the State has only completed 22% of its construction plan for 2025.
The text also introduces for the first time the possibility for foreigners to purchase apartments through state real estate agencies if they make significant investments in the Cuban economy, and it eliminates the automatic confiscation of inheritances due to emigration, stating that “the inability to inherit due to being declared an emigrant shall not apply.”
Once approved by the National Assembly, the law will come into effect 90 days after its publication in the Official Gazette, and the Council of Ministers will have 60 days to issue its regulations.
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