In Cuba, divorces are like new friends American tourists make in Havana: quick and easy. But getting your ex to move out might prove a bit difficult thanks to the island’s property laws and housing shortage:

Estranged Cuban couples sometimes remain under the same roof for years or even lifetimes, learning that while divorce on the island is easy, housing is not. The phenomenon is a testament not only to the communist-run island’s severe housing shortage, but also to Cubans’ ability to stay friendly — or at least civil — under the most awkward of circumstances.

“In a developed country, you get divorced and someone goes to a hotel and then to a new house,” said Llera, a 60-year-old mechanic. “Here we had to keep living like a couple.”

By law, Cubans cannot sell their homes and because the state controls almost all property, moves must be approved. Housing is so scarce, however, that often there is nowhere to go.

Miami?

The government has long estimated an island-wide shortage of half a million homes. In 2006, officials reported construction of 110,000 houses, one of the largest single-year totals since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. But similar home-building initiatives this year were slowed by the rising costs of materials and Tropical Storm Noel’s severe flooding of eastern Cuba.

Those households must get so. Loud.

Cuban Divorce Is Easy, Housing Is Harder [AP]