We use it to mean, the quick and dirty simple solution that we write first, and that is usually good enough but your a little embarrassed to admit. It's not the elegant or crafted, but works.

Our original solution was literally a shell exec, and it was perfectly fine (..for a while)

Given your definition, I'd probably try to use a different word.

Lots of people use "ghetto" to mean quick-and-dirty.

That's not an argument for it's continued use. I agree with rhizome, you should consider using a different word or phrase.