The official newspaper Escambray acknowledged this Thursday that the program for transforming shipping containers into housing in Sancti Spíritus is facing a severe delay compared to the established goals: only 17 properties are in the assembly phase out of more than 100 that were supposed to be completed during 2026.
The figure was confirmed by Maribel Vázquez Bernal, head of the Housing Development Department at the Provincial Housing Directorate, who detailed that these 17 units are distributed among Cabaiguán (seven), Taguasco (five), and La Esperanza in Guayos (five), all still in the assembly process and none completed.
The state media itself titled its report "Containers for Housing: a Program in Debt" and admitted that "generally speaking, the execution of housing in Sancti Spíritus for the current year shows little progress."
The main cause of the stagnation is the same one that paralyzes traditional construction in Cuba: the scarcity of specific materials and accessories for this format, including doors, windows, and cladding suitable for the metal modules. In the absence of materials, builders turn to local alternatives, many of which are supplied by non-state actors.
The container program was introduced in 2025 as a "circular economy" solution to the chronic housing deficit, utilizing units retired from freight transportation—specifically those used to import components for photovoltaic solar parks. The provincial goal, as confirmed by the director of Housing in the province to Radio Sancti Spíritus, was to build 133 housing units of this type distributed across the eight municipalities.
Failure is not limited to containers. The conventional Housing Program in the province also fails to meet its objectives: out of 161 properties planned for 2026, only about twenty have been completed, primarily in Yaguajay, Taguasco, and the provincial capital, due to a lack of cement, aggregates, and steel.
The pattern is repeated on a national scale. The Cuban government acknowledged in November 2025 the failure of the program for container homes despite having released more than 1,700 units across the country. By April 2026, only 133 homes of this type had been delivered in Cuba, and in a meeting of governors with Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, it was confirmed that only 19 were officially completed.
The first two modular houses in Havana were delivered on May 2, 2026, in the presence of Miguel Díaz-Canel and Marrero Cruz, in the municipality of Marianao. This event was presented as a milestone, but it contrasts sharply with the magnitude of the problem: the housing deficit in Cuba exceeds 929,000 homes, with 35% of the existing housing stock in fair or poor condition, and the fulfillment of the state construction plan in 2025 was only 22%: 2,382 out of 10,795 planned homes.
The cost of a container home for the beneficiary ranges between 900,000 and one million Cuban pesos, equivalent to over ten years' worth of average salary, payable through a bank loan.
A reader identified as "Don José" summarized the accumulated frustration in the comments on Escambray: "Tell me about a project that is completed on time or shows progress."
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