Over the past two decades, thousands of people have had to shelter in dilapidated self-built shacks in Ap Doi hamlet, Ward 15, Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City – an area is affected by suspended housing projects.

Local dwellers said they have asked for permission from local authorities many times to build houses but never received a nod.

Most of the homes, made of sheet metal or dry coconut leaves, are seriously downgraded. So, some residents ignored the city’s ban to build new houses for better living conditions but were later ordered to demolish them.

“The suspended housing projects problem in the area has been put on the governmental agenda many times but it is still an unsettled issue," sighed N.T., a taxi driver who lives in the area.

"I hope this time our dream comes true,” he said after observing a meeting held by the city council with focus on this issue on TV on October 4.

Ngo Thi Kim Xuyen take cares of her little son and cuts Water Morning Glory, a kind of vegetable, that she will later sell to traders in her shacks that is made of ragged canvas. Xuyen’s family has settled in this area since 1991 and has papers to illegally possess a piece of land here.

A little girl looks outside from her decayed metal sheet shack.

Many households in the suspended housing projects area have to shelter in old metal-sheet shacks.

This woman uses canvas to prevent rainwater to get into her house via the roof. Most of the households in the area suffer the same fate.

Le Thi Mai and her family members live together in a 12m2 shack.

 A temporary kitchen of the family of Vu Van Quang, who has settled in the area since 1991.  

Too narrow a space to live and work for this woman and her family.