Despite government assertions to the contrary, Cubans have suffered housing shortages since the 1970s. Dependence on the government to repair homes and the criminality of buying or selling property, let alone building, until Raúl Castro legalized these options shortly after taking state control in 2009, explain this. Yet laws in place since the early 1970s also made public displays of “vagrancy” illegal. Citizens accused of being lazy, unproductive or resistant work mandates imposed by the state (paid and voluntary) were, by law and according to Fidel Castro, more than indolent, they were “thieves” who stole potential growth and prosperity from other Cubans under socialism. Whereas fines paid in manual labor and “rehabilitation” in labor camps were the norm prior to the 1990s, these measures largely disappeared with the collapse of the Communist system’s material resources and legitimacy to enforce them. Images of homeless men lying on park benches, sometimes suffering from mental illness or alcohol addiction, became increasingly common. Carlos III Street, Havana, 2012.
