Havana unveiled its first two modular homes built from repurposed shipping containers over the weekend, as Cuba’s capital struggles with deteriorating buildings and residents describe living with collapse risk. President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other government officials gathered at the site of the new homes, state media reported, highlighting the effort as Cuba searches for solutions to worsening housing conditions.
The modular homes were awarded to two single mothers, according to state media. Officials said one recipient had spent more than a dozen years living in a shelter, while the other had been living in a single room with two teenage children. Cuba’s housing program also drew attention to the people most affected by the decline of older buildings, including families who said they could not relocate after their homes became unsafe.
Government media reported that crews built the homes in one month, using surplus material tied to tourism investment projects and technologies developed by Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces. State coverage also said containers previously used to import parts from China for solar panel farms were repurposed for the project.
Officials at the event pointed to the scale of the housing challenge. In remarks reported Saturday, officials said Cuba’s housing deficit is more than 800,000 homes, with the most pressing need in Havana. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz also said the program for converting shipping containers into homes could move faster, while adding that work is underway.
For some residents, the problem is immediate and tied to aging structures in historic neighborhoods. Yurieska Artunet Martí, a 29-year-old beautician who lives in the historic part of Havana, said she was forced to move out of her last apartment after it disintegrated, though she remained on the same floor and in the same building because she said she could not afford to live elsewhere. She described plaster falling onto her bed and disintegrating walls in the back part of the building, and she said the situation affected her and her three children, including a pregnancy.
Artunet Martí also said she had to close the beauty business she ran at home after clients stopped coming because of the building’s condition. She spoke as Old Havana residences known for architectural style — ranging from Spanish Colonial to Cuban Baroque — are described as especially vulnerable to collapse, particularly after heavy rains. Government data from 2020 cited in the report said the island of nearly 10 million people had 3.9 million homes, with nearly 40% in fair or poor condition.
Other residents described collapses that forced evacuations and left families scrambling for stability. Carlos Sablón, 60, recalled that a portion of his building’s third floor collapsed at night, though no one was on that floor at the time. He said firefighters evacuated other residents and that he, an engineer, returned to his apartment after it was not damaged, hooking up power and water for himself and a handful of residents who stayed.
Sablón said residents are left with ongoing fear because, in his view, no one ensures the safety of homes in Havana. Magalys Caro, 63, described living in a single room, with a makeshift kitchen and bathroom in the front part of her building, after her next-door home disintegrated during a hurricane and she moved into the available space. She said the back part of her current building has collapsed and that she has lived for about 10 years under what she described as poor conditions without resolution from the housing authority.
At Saturday’s event, the housing director general at Cuba’s Ministry of Construction, Delilah Díaz Fernández, said more than 2,000 containers destined to become homes have been approved and that around 700 are currently being converted. She said the program holds “immense potential and is here to stay,” and that as new containers arrive they will be considered for eventual housing, with beneficiaries including people who lost homes to extreme weather or structural collapses.