The present research aims at showing the residential logics of the inhabitants of the precarious settlements in Lomé and Kara and to try to propose perspectives to get out of the indecency of the precarious dwellings in the Togolese cities. To achieve this, she combined three approaches: document analysis, direct observation and in-depth individual interviews with 33 inhabitants of precarious settlements. The research has highlighted the rise of precarious habitats caused by the rapid growth of Togolese cities; then, it identified three main types of perceptions of precarious habitats: precarious housing as a shelter, precarious housing as a symbol of urbanity and finally as a transplantation of rurality in the city, thus reflecting the unfinished nature of Togolese cities. The precarious habitat option is a strategy of keeping in the city. In addition, by questioning private housing on the one hand, and rental housing on the other, notably through the case study of the Katanga slum in Lomé, the article shows the system's failures. Before concluding that, in Togolese cities as in other African cities, residential occupancy responds to forms of urban transactions oscillating between indigenous traditions and modern import. Finally, the research proposes to address three main challenges to get out of indecency, including the strengthening of the regulation of land and rental lease and the promotion of social housing.