Ho Chi Minh City is now home to more than 21,000 houses along its canals, with many being temporary, makeshift, and downright tiny.

Down Alley 263 on Nguyen Duy Street in District 8, a row of run-down houses lines the Doi Canal.

Among them is a 25-square-meter house owned by Ngo Van Son, a father who has lived in District 8 for over 20 years.

Son’s house is made out of small wooden dowels covered in old metal roofing, with his children sharing a small, narrow space and sleeping in shifts.

His daughter works in the morning while his son sleeps until night-time. Once Son’s son goes to work, his daughter sleeps.

During particularly heavy storms, Son and his family stay in their relatives’ homes to avoid the dangers of high tides.

When it is not rainy, the canal emits a foul smell, attracting flies during the day and mosquitoes at night.

Down the road from Son’s house is a 20-square-meter home owned by Huynh Van Duc, which is shared by 10 other family members.

Tiny, crowded houses once lined the Doi Canal, but many families have since moved.

The inconvenience of such small living spaces and the dangers of living near the waterway have forced them to relocate.

Aside from Duc and Son, Chau Kim Anh and her two siblings have decided to stay. Combined, their three houses span 100 square meters and accommodate 11 people.

“Everything is inconvenient, [we] have to work around each other to take care of daily chores and our attics are used for both storage and sleeping,” Anh said.

Just getting into their homes requires threading through a one-meter-wide alleyway with metal roofing jutting out into the footpath.

Families living along other canals face similar hardships.

Duong Thi My Chi and her family, for example, reside in a cramped, 20-square-meter makeshift house along the Xuyen Tam Canal, which she rents for just VND3 million (US$118) per month.

The Xuyen Tam Canal stretches about 8.2km in total, starting from the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal in Binh Thanh District and flowing to the Vam Thuat River in Go Vap District.

Nonetheless, she will soon be forced to relocate, as local authorities have ordered the property owner to dismantle the structure to allow for canal dredging.

For many residents living along the canals in the southern metropolis, the hope of moving to safer, better housing feels like a distant dream, which is especially true for people like Chung Thi Kim Thuy, who lives down Alley 411 on Nguyen Duy Street in District 8.

Thuy shares her cramped 15-square-meter home along the Doi Canal with her three children.

Given limited space, the family hangs their belongings on the walls to keep the floor clear for sleeping.

Despite the home’s disrepair and deteriorating condition, Thuy has no other options.

If the house collapses, she has nowhere else to go.

Down Alley 43/35A on Bui Dinh Tuy Street in Binh Thanh District, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Le and her husband have spent the last 20 years living in a 40-square-meter house, 28 square meters of which encroach on the Xuyen Tam Canal.

They often close their doors and windows in an attempt to keep out the foul odor rising from the canal.

Though they now have plans to move, they are sentimentally attached to the home – a place where they cared for their son during his fight with leukemia, which tragically ended when he was just 16.

Still, they have no choice but to relocate if they want to provide a better life for their children and grandchildren.

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