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Storm’s damages put focus on Cuba’s dire housing crisis

Residents push a boat through a flooded street to rescue a neighbor unable to leave his home on his own during a tropical cyclone in Havana, Cuba, Friday, June 3, 2022. Many of the island's people live along a coast prone to storms, hurricanes and the ravages of salty air and water, and now, the first rains of the new storm season have again exposed the fragility of Cuba’s housing. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Architect Orlando Inclan poses for a photo on a street in Havana, Cuba, Monday, June 13, 2022. “It is time to diversify the housing policy," said Inclan, who with a team won a competition to build social housing using alternative or recycled materials. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Deteriorated buildings line the Malecon seawall in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, June 22, 2022. The first storm of the 2022 hurricane season, which hit Cuba in mid-June, collapsed or damaged dozens of homes in the capital that were already in poor condition, tearing off pieces of roof, balconies and facades. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Anet Ayala sits on a bucket next to her bed at her home, the second floor of an old building where she lives with her brother in the Talla Piedra neighborhood of Havana, Cuba, Monday, June 13, 2022. “When it rains here everything gets wet, furniture, the refrigerator. We have nowhere to move things to,” said Ayala. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) A resident wades through a flooded street brought by a tropical cyclone in Havana, Cuba, Friday, June 3, 2022. The first storm of the 2022 hurricane season, which hit Cuba in mid-June, caused dozens of collapses in the capital and damaged homes that were already in poor condition, tearing off pieces of roof, balconies and facades. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) The roofless, top story of a home is exposed in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, June 22, 2022. One of Cuba’s main social problems is a shortage of quality housing caused by decades of inadequate maintenance, a lack of new housing and impediments facing people trying to fix up their own homes. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Fishermen with boats made of cork finish working at dawn along the Malecon sea wall in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Many of the island's people live along a coast prone to storms, hurricanes and the ravages of salty air and water, triggering building collapses in the capital and damaging homes that are already in poor condition. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Olga Lidia Lahera sits in her home, a 15-square-meter (160-square-foot) apartment, where she lives with her daughter and two granddaughters in Havana, Cuba, Monday, June 13, 2022. Lahera, 65, was a state employee until she requested sick leave, and the four of them live off what the Cuban state give her daughter to take care of her and the girls. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) A construction crane stands next to the Capitol in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, June 22, 2022. One of Cuba’s main social problems is a shortage of quality housing caused by decades of inadequate maintenance, a lack of new housing and impediments facing people trying to fix up their own homes. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Anet Ayala and her dog peer from her balcony in Havana, Cuba, Monday, June 13, 2022. Ayala and her brother filled out paperwork to get authorization to legally fix their home, which dates to the 20th century, but the building permit, mandatory in Cuba, was never delivered. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Storm’s damages put focus on Cuba’s dire housing crisis