14 years of temporary residence but no return date has been set
Apartment building 51 Huynh Thuc Khang, built in 1991, consists of 5 floors and is divided into 2 units, with a total of 42 apartments. The first unit of this apartment building, located in Lang Ha ward, Dong Da district, has seriously degraded and is assessed by the Hanoi Department of Construction as a level D danger.
According to Lao Dong on March 23, the frontage of the apartment building, located on Huynh Thuc Khang Street, is currently fenced off, limiting people from passing. The entrance to unit 1 is currently a place to gather furniture and tools of some households, while inside the project has seriously degraded and there are no residents.
Sharing with Lao Dong, many residents currently living in unit 2 of the apartment building said that unit 1 was severely damaged after the collapse of a 5-storey house at 49 Huynh Thuc Khang in 2011. This incident has seriously affected the structure of the apartment building, especially the apartments on the 3rd and 4th floors.
After the incident, the apartment management board and local authorities forced 19 households living in unit 1 to evacuate to temporary housing in Dai Kim urban area (Hoang Mai). However, since then, apartment building 51 Huynh Thuc Khang has not been renovated or rebuilt.
Ms. Nguyen Hoang Lan - a resident who used to live in unit 1 - shared: "When leaving to temporarily relocate, no one thought that they would have to wait more than 10 years to return. Everyone is looking forward to the day they can return to the place where they have been with their family for a long time. Living in one place but receiving paperwork and pension benefits in another place causes many inconveniences in life."
Renovated and newly built in the second quarter of 2025
Currently, many remaining households in unit 2 of apartment building 51 Huynh Thuc Khang are expressing concern when witnessing households in unit 1 that left many years ago but the date of return is unknown. A resident in unit 2 said that after the incident in unit 1, households have submitted applications to apply for a red book, but have not yet received it.
People here all want to settle down right in this area with a satisfactory compensation level and a resettlement area equal to the current area where they are living.
According to information from the People's Committee of Dong Da District, out of more than 500 old apartment buildings in the district (accounting for about 1/3 of the total number of apartment buildings in the city), the district has completed the inspection, review of the current status of the apartment buildings and conducted an inspection of 138 apartment buildings. The district is also continuing to inspect 55 more apartment buildings.
Regarding apartment building 51 Huynh Thuc Khang, Chairman of Dong Da District People's Committee, Mr. Le Tuan Dinh, said that the district has completed the relocation of households from dangerous apartment buildings and is preparing a compensation and resettlement plan. It is expected that the renovation and construction of new apartments will be implemented in the second quarter of 2025.
Hanoi currently has 1,579 old apartment buildings built from 1960 to 1994. According to Mr. Mac Dinh Minh, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Construction, through the classification process, the city has 200 old level C apartments, 137 level B apartments and 7 level D apartments, which need to be relocated for reconstruction.
However, the renovation and reconstruction of old apartment buildings is difficult to attract investors, even though the locations are all located in "golden" land in the capital.
