Dormitory rooms for workers in Thang Long Industrial Zone in Hanoi. (Photo: VNA) Housing solutions for workers has become the utmost priority toensure the wellbeing of staff and their continued dedication to their jobs,they said.
Luong Tien Dung, a worker from Thanh Hoa province, has beenrenting a room near Chau Son Industrial Zone in Phu Ly city, Ha Nam province, forfive years.
“My wife and I earn an average worker's income of around 15million VND monthly. We manage to save 3-4 million VND per month, hoping to buya small apartment so we can settle down," he said.
Another worker, Hoang Thi Lien, from northern Phu Tho province, iscurrently renting a 20sq.m room in a boarding house in Bach Thuong ward in Phu Ly city near Dong Van Industrial Zone.
The house has a metal roof, making it extremely hot during thesummer months.
"At the beginning of this month, the landlord told us aboutan electricity price hike, leading to an increase in our living expenses,"she said.
"When I was single, I took advantage of overtime work toescape the heat by staying at the company where there is air conditioning. Butafter getting married and having a baby, I spend my time at home with just aregular fan to keep cool.”
Given the high cost of living in the city, Lien said buying ahouse is not feasible.
“We are considering sending our child back to our grandparents'house in Nghe An province,” she said.
Dung and Lien are among numerous migrant workers who left theirhometowns in search of better opportunities in big cities. Despite theirefforts, most workers, with their limited financial capacity and the soaringliving cost in cities, find it impossible to own a house.
High demand
Vu Minh Tien, Head of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour(VGCL)’s Institute for Workers and Trade Unions, highlighted the pressing needfor affordable houses, especially for migrant workers in industrial parks andexport processing zones in Hanoi and Binh Duong province, as well as Dong Nai,Long An and Ha Nam provinces.
The institute conducted surveys in 16 cities and provinces withnumerous industrial zones nationwide and found that up to 41% of workersdesired affordable and suitable housing near their workplaces to ensure theirliving conditions. However, this remains extremely challenging due to workers’low income.
“It is very challenging for migrant workers to buy a house as onlya few can afford social housing,” he said.
The survey also showed that about 90% of migrant workers had torent in cramped, substandard rooms.
Le Van Nghia, head of the Trade Union’s Project Management Boardunder VGCL, said the union has conducted surveys on the living and housingconditions of workers and found that many of them had to stay in tiny roomsmeasuring only 10-20sq.m.
These rooms have no toilets or kitchens, and were extremely hotand stuffy on summer days.
In 2017, VGCL proposed a project to build social housing forworkers. However, it has encountered obstacles due to Land Law and Housing Law.It has also made proposals to address these difficulties. Currently, there are35 localities that have allocated land of three to seven hectares to buildresidential areas for workers.
"If policy obstacles are resolved, the process of projectdocumentation and procedures will take about two-three years, and theconstruction process can be completed within one year. Currently, Ha Nam provinceis piloting the construction of 244 apartments for workers," he said.
Tran Tuan Anh, Deputy Head of the Management Board of Hanoi’sIndustrial and Export Processing Zones, said the city has nearly 170,000workers, but in reality, there are only around 22,000 accommodations availablefor them.
Currently, there are four housing projects for workers inindustrial and export processing zones with a total design capacity of about22,000 housing units. These projects include the pilot project for workerhousing in Kim Chung ward in Dong Anh district, which can accommodate about11,520 workers from Thang Long Industrial Zone. The housing project in PhuNghĩa Industrial Zone has partly completed with a total floor area of4,822sq.m, equivalent to 106 apartments for about 800 workers.
The Meiko Company’s housing project has completed two-thirds ofits construction and put into use 330 apartments, providing 2,290 housingunits. The Young Fast Optoelectronics Co. Ltd’s housing project has completedthe construction and put into use 49 apartments to meet the housing needs ofexperts and workers of the company. These two projects are built by businesseson land allocated to them.
Anh said investors are not interested in building social housingfor workers, especially projects with a payback period of 20 to 30 years due tolow profitability.
In addition, workers' demand for social housing is diversified.The majority of workers have a demand for rental housing as they tend to returnto their hometowns when they retire.
These are issues that policymakers need to carefully consider asthe social housing construction must be suitable for the characteristics andlifestyles of workers and close to industrial and export processing zones.
One more problem, he said, is workers’ income. A couple of workershave monthly salaries of 13 million VND, so no one dares to spend 3 million VNDrenting a house.
Therefore, the priority is to improve the living standards andincome of workers while ensuring transparency in the process of buildinghousing for workers, and attract the participation of enterprises, he said./.
VNA
