Two small rooms, the whole life of a family of 4
Ms. Hong Chien's family's rented room is not far from Thang Long Industrial Park. She and her husband got married and decided to stay in Hanoi to work, from then on, the rented rooms became a place where the whole family was attached for many years.
Not renting a common room, a family of 4 rents two opposite rooms. One room costs 450,000 VND/month, the other room costs 400,000 VND. However, having one more room does not mean that the family has a spacious living space.
One room is used as a place to store things, cook and gather for meals. The other room is a place for the whole family to rest, and also a "learning corner" for the two young children.
The limited area makes all activities have to be condensed. The small bed becomes a resting place, where the two children sit and watch TV, and also a place for the whole family to gather whenever they do not go out. There is almost no space in the house for children to play.
To run and jump, the two children can only go to the common yard of the boarding house. Children's games are therefore also "coated" just enough for the space that the family has.
Ms. Chien does administrative work, earning more than 6 million VND/month. Her husband works as a car repairman, earning about 10-12 million VND/month. Compared to many families, the total income of the couple is not too low, but to cover the lives of 4 people in Hanoi, that amount of money is quickly divided into smaller expenses.
In addition to renting two rooms, the family also has to pay for electricity, water and daily living expenses. Water bills at the boarding house are 70,000 VND/person; electricity price is 3,500 VND/kWh.
Having rented a room for many years, Ms. Chien has not dared to think about buying a house. Even social housing - a choice expected to be more suitable for workers' incomes - is still a distant dream.
If there are social housing for workers to rent, maybe my family can improve their lives. But there are not many such houses now" - Ms. Chien shared.
Businesses pay housing allowances to workers
According to reporters' records, in order to support workers in daily life, especially related to housing, at some businesses in Thang Long Industrial Park, policies to support housing, travel, and living expenses are included in the welfare regime for workers.
At Enplas Co., Ltd. (Vietnam), workers are supported with housing allowances of 150,000 VND/month and travel allowances from 300,000 - 700,000 VND/month.
Kai Vietnam Co., Ltd. supports a living allowance of 350,000 VND/month and a travel allowance of 320,000 VND/month. Meanwhile, Nissho Co., Ltd. pays a housing allowance of 250,000 VND/month, and a living allowance of 460,000 VND/month.
Nippon Kouatsu Electric Vietnam Co., Ltd. also has a policy to support rent for workers at 250,000 VND/month.
At FCC Vietnam Co., Ltd., workers are supported with a housing allowance of 300,000 VND/month and a travel allowance of 16,000 VND/day, equivalent to about 384,000 VND/month if calculated for 24 working days.
Support of a few hundred thousand VND per month may not be enough to fundamentally solve the housing problem, but for workers, this is still a practical amount of money in the context of increasing living costs.
