Amid crisis, Cuba falls short on home-building

Posted on Thursday, 12.17.09
Amid crisis, Cuba falls short on home-building
The Associated Press

HAVANA -- Cuba built about 20,000 homes in 2009, meeting barely 60
percent of its modest annual construction goal and further exacerbating
a severe housing crunch, the official press said Thursday.

A report prepared for Sunday's session of parliament indicates that
authorities missed by more than a third the target of building 32,000
homes this year.

There was no reason given for shortfall, reported in the Communist Party
newspaper Granma. Cuba's cash-strapped economy has been pummeled by the
global economic crisis, however, causing officials to slash imports of
food and other basics as the country's foreign debt balloons.

In September 2005, Fidel Castro said housing was such a priority that
his country would build 100,000 new homes per year. That goal proved so
overambitious that by 2008, officials had lowered annual projections to
50,000 homes, then sliced them to 32,000 for 2009 - a bar that still
proved far too high.

The communist government controls nearly all construction. Even
operations as simple as obtaining building materials for home
improvement usually mean turning to a black market supplied by state
employees who steal goods from work.

Cuba reported in 2006 that its housing shortage had reached half a
million homes - and that was before three hurricanes hit the island in
2008, leaving tens of thousands homeless.

The Cuban parliament meets in full sessions just two days a year and
usually gives unanimous approval to proposals put forward by the leadership.

Amid crisis, Cuba falls short on home-building - National Business -
MiamiHerald.com (17 December 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/nation/story/1386626.html