Housing a Priority for Socialist Cuba

In 2019, Cuba plans to finish the construction of more than 20,000 residential buildings. The current housing deficit is at an estimated 929,000 units including provinces such as Havana, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba. Therefore, the government of Cuba is putting a strong emphasis on the modernization of the construction industry and doubling the production of building materials in the next few years, despite an on-going and aggressive U.S. blockade. 

RELATED: 
Delegates from 40 Nations Rally in Support of Venezuela, Cuba 

As part of Cuba's long-term strategy, the government aims to renew the sector through foreign investment by the year 2030. One initiative aims to relocate the transport of building materials to the more efficient railway. In January of this year, Russia delivered several dozen wagons designed for the job. The wagons will be used for the transport of cement and are now "gradually integrated into the logistics chain" and used primarily for the supply of the eastern provinces, said the director of the Housing Program, Vivian Rodríguez.

Cuba has approximately 3.82 million residential building, the government considers 40 percent of them in average or poor structural condition. President Miguel Díaz-Canel, in particular, wants to improve the approval processes for new buildings in the bureaucratic sector. 

Since the victory of the Cuban Revolution on Jan. 1, 1959, 2.56 million homes have been built.