Cuba’s Housing Shortage and Marginal Communities

Cuba's Housing Shortage and Marginal Communities

October 24, 2013

Armando Chaguaceda



HAVANA TIMES — A number of foreign defenders of the "achievements of the

Cuban revolution" invoke the people's access to decorous housing as one

of the virtues of the social system currently in effect on the island.



Other "friends of Cuba" (who are better informed about living conditions

in the country) maintain a prudent silence on the issue, which is one of

the country's most serious of social problems.



Though it is true that, as part of the first series of measures it

implemented, the post-revolutionary State reduced the price of rent and

granted property titles, it is also true that Cuba's housing situation

has become increasingly critical over the last few decades.



Today, over 70 % of the country's residences are in either regular or

poor condition, very few new homes are built every year (construction

plans, which are insufficient to begin with, are not met) and it is

common to see up to three different generations living under one roof

(and all of the friction this entails).



Housing construction and repair by the State has also been decreasing

over the last few years. The pace at which new homes are constructed is

well beneath the country's needs. Thus, following this already

long-standing trend, the housing deficit is increasing.



After a quick glance at Cuba's housing panorama, we see that some State

residences (so called "assigned houses"), particularly some high-quality

homes destined to Ministry of the Interior (MININT) and Revolutionary

Armed Forces (FAR) officials, have been constructed in recent times. A

number of buildings which were formerly workplaces have also been turned

into shelters and homes. These, however, are isolated cases which do not

in any way satisfy the current demand for housing.



The country's low construction capacity is coupled with meteorological

phenomena which, in recent years, have destroyed or partially damaged

hundreds of thousands of homes, and this because these were low-quality

residences (because of the building materials used and the questionable

rigor of their construction process) and, in addition, they had gone

without proper maintenance for decades.



This past summer, for instance, several buildings in Havana's

neighborhood of Centro Habana collapsed as a result of the strong rains.

With respect to the outcome of recovery efforts, numerous families lost

their homes after a number of hurricanes lashed Cuba's eastern provinces

and Pinar del Rio and they have not yet been provided with new housing.

Because of all this, Cuba's real housing deficit, according to

different, officially acknowledged sources, exceeds that of half a

million homes.



Following the Cuban State's failure to meet the housing demand and to

solve the problem through its construction brigade initiatives, this

responsibility has now been passed on to private initiative. This

decision leaves optionless the immense sector of the working population

that lives in the hundreds of tenement buildings (in neighborhoods such

as La Lisa or Alamar), buildings that are extremely difficult to repair

on the basis of individual effort alone.



Plans to give out bank loans and make construction materials available

to the population so that people can build or repair homes through their

own means have also failed to address the country's enormous housing

shortage.



Such "individual initiative" invariably meets with an extremely limited

offer of low quality building materials, sold at extremely high prices,

as the market is full of resellers who purchase nearly all of the

materials that come into the country (such as rebar and sacks of cement)

in order to sell it at higher-than-market prices.



That said, there is also a commendable program of subsidies designed to

help the low-income population repair its homes or build facilities such

as kitchens, bathrooms or additional bedrooms. The assignment of

resources is decided by a broad municipal commission which, in the

opinion of some, is not immune to favoritism.



The Cuban capital's impoverished population also faces the arrival

(uninterrupted, despite questionable legal and police operations) of

thousands of immigrants from other provinces, who survive in Havana

through different legal and illegal activities.



These individuals squat in buildings in critical structural condition

(almost always uninhabitable) or improvise precarious dwellings out of

waste materials in the city's peripheral areas, which are devoid of

water, sewage or electrical infrastructure, living there in overcrowded

and illegal shanties.



These marginal populations are also denied ration booklets, something

which makes survival all the more difficult and bolsters black market

activities and delinquency. Such shantytowns are to be found in

different municipalities across the capital.



The critical state of Cuba' housing situation is a serious social

problem. [i] In fact, it would be sound to conclude that the

well-documented rise in violence in Havana and the proliferation of

different forms of marginal and illegal communities are closely related

to the increase in poverty and overcrowding.



To combat and solve these problems, we need, not more rationalization

(the preference these days), but a significant investment of resources,

aimed at improving the country's social policies (in housing, health,

education and recreation) that address the needs of these populations.



We also need to experiment with alternative models (such as building and

administrative cooperatives, savings and loans, and others) that prevent

the inefficiency of bureaucracies and the speculation of the real estate

market from denying the majority to exercise their right to have and

enjoy decorous housing.



We will reach this goal only when we combat and reduce the poverty that

affects broad sectors of the Cuban population in a comprehensive and

sustainable fashion.



I am grateful to the contributions and comments of several friends who

live in Havana and those of Carmelo Meso and Mario Coyula, experts on

the subject.





[i] For a true-to-life and recent report on this issue, see journalist

Fernando Ravsberg's piece:

http://cartasdesdecuba.com/vivienda-en-cuba-un-problema-aun-sin-solucion/



Source: "Cuba's Housing Shortage and Marginal Communities - Havana

Times.org" - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=99581