The Cuban government approved on Wednesday the , which establishes for the first time a specific legal framework for the creation and operation of housing cooperatives in the country.
The regulation will allow groups of citizens to voluntarily associate for the purpose of building, rehabilitating, and preserving properties, through entities with legal personality and their own assets, amid the deep housing crisis affecting the island.
The decree was published in the , on pages 136 to 155, and is signed by the Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz.
The regulation defines the housing cooperative as “an association of people, hereinafter referred to as members, who voluntarily come together to jointly address their housing needs and carry out urban and architectural interventions, including new construction, rehabilitation, and preservation.”
According to the text of the decree, these entities possess legal personality and their own assets, with which they are liable for tax, credit, labor, environmental, contractual, health, and urban obligations.
Partners can contribute money, tangible and intangible assets, and property rights, which will be integrated into a collective system aimed at the construction or rehabilitation of housing.
Once the works are completed, members have two options: dissolve the cooperative and opt for the Horizontal Property regime, or maintain the society and develop additional economic, social, and cultural activities, such as gardening, equipment installation, or vehicle parking.
Decree 178 is governed by three guiding principles: voluntary incorporation and retention of members; mutual cooperation and assistance among all members; and collective decision-making with equal rights.
The regulation was issued in compliance with the First Final Provision of the , approved by the National Assembly on July 30, 2026, which tasked the Council of Ministers with drafting this regulation and introduced the cooperative as a new form of housing management.
La Gaceta No. 86 published on the same day a comprehensive package of six regulations concerning housing: in addition to Decree 178, it included Law 187, the , the , and two resolutions from the National Institute of Territorial Planning and Urbanism regarding property certifications and the assessed value of real estate.
The new regulatory framework arrives in the context of a structural housing crisis in Cuba: the official deficit exceeded 805,000 homes in July 2025, with projections for 2026 estimating it to reach nearly 929,000 units.
Thirty-five percent of the country's housing stock —approximately 1,450,000 homes— was in fair or poor condition, while the state construction plan barely reached 22% of its goal in 2025, with only 2,382 units completed out of the 10,795 planned.
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