Editor’s note: Thu Phan, 34, from Dong Nai Province, which neighbors Ho Chi Minh City, hopes that all Vietnamese people, including low-income earners, will have gained access to decent housing by 2035, as she wrote to the “Ky Vong Viet Nam 20 Nam Toi” (“My Expectations for Vietnam in 20 Years”) writing contest.

I wish in the next 20 years, all Vietnamese households will be able to own houses or rent social houses on a long-term basis, so that they can settle down and be engrossed in their jobs.

Speaking about housing for working people, I’d like to focus on workers, particularly migrant ones. Is it fair that these people, who toil hard to produce the most for the country, benefit so little from society, including such basic demands as accommodation and meals?

A burning dream

According to statistics, the country is currently home to over 12 million workers. Among them, more than 2.2 million are working at industrial parks. However, statistics revealed that a mere 20 percent of these workers are entitled to stable accommodation, while the rate of workers owning houses is definitely lower than 20 percent.

Migrant workers’ destitute living conditions are evident. We all know how miserable they and their children are, which has led to numerous consequences. In my opinion, if accommodation problems are resolved, most of the ensuing consequences would disappear.

Migrant workers’ greatest dream is owning a house, whether it is an apartment, social house or a fourth-grade house which measures merely a few dozen square meters. However, in actuality, the dream is even out of reach for migrant office employees, for example those working in Ho Chi Minh City, let alone workers?

A real estate enterprise remarked that “Vietnam’s house prices are the lowest in the world.” Those without a house do not heed the remark, as the “low” prices mean at least VND600-800 million, a large sum for working people.      

A deputy minister affirmed that “people earning VND18 million a month can buy a house” thanks to a VND30 trillion (US$1.37 billion) governmental loan package. The information does not cherish hopes for owning a house among workers either, as many households still find monthly incomes of VND18 million unreachable.

Temporary and long-running solutions

A model of building houses each worth VND100 million ($4,579) recently implemented in the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai has received ample social interest and support. Enterprises directly utilize workers’ labor to yield profits and benefit part of the profits. Therefore, it would be reasonable that companies build houses under non-profit projects and sell them at low rates to their workers.

However, to do so, the state should adopt incentive policies to encourage enterprises’ engagement in such projects. Such policies include low-rate land rental at industrial parks, allowing or requesting industrial parks to earmark their land banks for the construction of workers’ houses, and working with enterprises in facilitating workers’ house purchase in installments. The state should also impose certain regulations on enterprises instead of expecting them to do so on a voluntary basis. For instance, a regulation stipulating that companies with at least 1,000 workers must build at least 100 cheap apartments for their workers.

Some said that making house prices as low as possible might solve the housing problem for workers. This is right, yet theoretically only, as it seems. Reality has proved that in recent years, house prices in Vietnam have dropped substantially, but they remain out of reach for working people.

Some also suggested imposing estate tax exponentially, which means those owning more houses are liable for higher tax. The idea sounds reasonable. However, those owning much land estate can easily shift the tax payment to tenants of such estate. Therefore, instead of levying it on the affluent, imposing tax adds burden to those who don’t own a house and have to rent one to live in.

Therefore, in the long run, it’s crucial that workers’ incomes be augmented by providing more jobs. To do so, the government should prioritize the sectors which employ a large number of workers and directly produce social wealth. In other words, developing the production sector should be made a priority. Innovation and entrepreneurial ideas should be encouraged and facilitated for better job provision.

In addition, working people should also be helped to improve their skills and expertise. The government should help them with incentive policies in tuition for those taking courses in vocational training schools and colleges. This will create fairness regarding education opportunities among workers.

Alternative products should be created, while supply of cheap houses is supposed to be increased. The government should use the social insurance fund to build houses which would be rented to workers on a long-term basis. The social insurance fund is contributed by workers, so it would be reasonable that the fund is used to their benefit.

Instead of buying houses, working people could choose to rent state-owned houses on a long-term basis. Boosting supply of cheap houses can be done by waiving or lowering fees, including different taxes, current charges and so-called “lubricant” expenses, so that enterprises would still enjoy good profits.