Recorded on September 4 by PV at the Phap Van - Tu Hiep student housing area, a series of apartment buildings were lying motionless and quiet right next to the Phap Van - Cau Gie expressway, the bustling traffic gateway of Hanoi city.
According to observations, the 19 story A2 and A3 blocks have completed the rough construction, the interior has not been completed. Through the sun and rain, the plaster walls have peeled in many places, the iron railings have rusted.
At the foot of the buildings that have not been put into use are currently being used as a place to gather trucks and cars of local people. Construction waste is dumped haphazardly, overgrown with grass.
In the remaining buildings (A1, A5 and A6) that are currently in use but not fully exploiting the capacity, many rooms in the buildings are still closed and uninhabited. Many items have been degraded for many years.
Having moved to the house for nearly a year now, Ha An, a student at a university in Van Dien area, said that by the end of October 2025, she will return to her room and move to a rented room near the school to live.
"The area lacks amenities while there are few students coming to live, so it is quite sad, not to mention many rooms have deteriorated over time," Ha An shared.
Meanwhile, for many workers who do not have stable housing, seeing the completed buildings that have been abandoned for the past 10 years is heartbreaking.
Mr. Le Van Thinh (Hung Yen province) said: "My wife and I have been working as workers in Hanoi for nearly 10 years but have not been able to buy a house. These abandoned buildings have been renovated and converted into social housing for low-income workers to rent or buy, which is great to avoid waste".
According to research, the Phap Van - Tu Hiep student housing project started in 2009 with investment from Hanoi City from the state budget, on a land area of over 40,000m2. The total investment capital is 1,900 billion VND.
The project consists of 6 19-storey buildings, with more than 1,400 rooms, providing housing needs for nearly 22,000 students of universities in the south of the city. In January 2015, 3 buildings A1, A5 and A6 were put into use but few people lived there.
By 2024, after nearly a decade of ineffective projects, Hanoi City has decided to convert the function of Phap Van - Tu Hiep dormitory into a social housing area (NOXH) for rent. It is expected that the city will invest more than 220 billion VND to renovate buildings A2, A3 and complete building A4 to serve the housing needs of the people.
It is expected that the renovation and upgrading of buildings A2 and A3 will be completed in 2026, and the investment and construction of building A4 will be completed no later than 2027.
According to those with experience in the real estate sector, putting housing projects that have not been used for many years in sensitive locations into exploitation and use will contribute positively, helping to improve urban landscape and improve efficiency in exploitation and use, increasing housing supply.
Mr. Nguyen Hoang Nam - General Director of G-Home Joint Stock Company (a company specializing in developing social housing) - said that while the current demand for buying and renting social housing in Hanoi is increasing, converting Phap Van - Tu Hiep housing area into social housing is necessary, helping to increase the supply of housing for the market.
"This conversion process also faces many difficulties due to legal barriers and complicated procedures. Therefore, there should be specific support policies such as investing in infrastructure, utilities and determining appropriate prices to attract people," said Mr. Nam.
