That's one way to get away from shacks.
I think the bad image that gives much of Boca Chica is due to bad management and organization from the government. Much of Boca Chica is essentially barrios and it gives the impression of being very poor. Certsinly there are a lot of homes that the only type of family that live there are the ones that don't have a choice (ie. poor). The condition of the streets, which are mostly public and hence it's the government's responsibility for their maintenance, and then the garbage in many areas doesn't help. The lack of a building ordinance (whether it exist or not) means a nice home can literally be next to a shack and, in fact, that is the case in much of Boca Chica and in general the DR.
The thing about these poor looking neighborhoods (which is typical in most barrios in the DR) is that there is a greater than expected smount of homes and even apartment buildings that the street they are on may be a dirt track that looks abandoned by the government, but the homes don't look like one a poor family would live in. I think BC is better off than the first impression it gives, not a rich place but certsinly better off.
If all the not poor homes seen all over B would be concentrated in a few neighborhoods only of those types of homes with nicely keep streets, etc would look as very nice places.