Most of those neighborhoods in bad conditions are inhabited by migrants from the interior, mostly from the former Oriente province, nicknamed "palestinos", coming to the capital seeking better job opportunities and greater availability of consumer goods. Internal migration is a critical factor in the growth of Cuba's capital.

A lot of illegal inhabitans in illegal rented homes and overcrowded. Young people settle into buildings that have been declared uninhabitable, or movie theaters, stores or hotels that have been shut down. As a consequence of this deterioration and huge shortage in housing construction a significant amount of overcrowding has taken place with very negative social consequences. Entire families are often forced to sleep in the same room. It is very common to see what was initially a single family dwelling unit being subdivided into two or three family nuclei. The increasing domestic violence appears to be directly connected with this situation as well as the extremely high divorce rate. Yet, many divorced couples must continue living together, although they marry again, subdividing the already restricted dwelling.

The young married couples are those who have suffered the most because of the dwelling deficit. In the majority of cases, just-married couples must live at the house of one of their parents. Or, even worse, if the living quarters are already congested in both families' houses, then they may have to continue living separately, each one with his/her respective family.

The situation is such that, very often, married couples have to go to the "posadas" love nests or rooms-rented-by-the-hour places now managed by the government, in order to enjoy some privacy. But, in order to rent a room in those places, due to their scarcity, in many instances they have to form a line in public, frequently during a long period of time and even making payments "under the table" to the managers to get a good room or speed up their turn. Recent reports indicate a drastic reduction of the posadas in Havana.