The corner of the wall behind the room is stained with patches of mold. Her young child is playing under the carpet on the ground, occasionally coughing dry.
The rented room is too damp, so he often coughs up, many days he has to take medicine. But moving to another place, the rent is higher, my husband and I can't afford it" - Ms. Tham sighed.
Ms. Tham's family has rented a room for nearly 3 years, in Hau Duong village, Thien Loc commune (Hanoi). The room is only enough to fit a bed, a small cabinet and a kitchen. Every time it is humid or it rains for a long time, the walls of the house "sweat", and the brick floor is always damp.
Her son is only 3 years old and often has respiratory infections. Many nights seeing her child coughing for a long time, she startled and woke up.
The doctor said that young children in damp rooms are prone to respiratory diseases, but what can we do. Being near the industrial park is convenient for going to work, and having a large room makes the rent high" - she shared.
Not only Ms. Tham's family, many workers around the rented area are also raising young children in similar conditions. Four-class rented rooms, old corrugated iron roofs, damp walls are the living quarters of dozens of immigrant worker families.
According to records of trade union organizations, most of the boarding houses around the industrial park have been built for a long time, the area of each room is only about 10-15m2, and sanitation and living environment conditions are still limited.
In that cramped space, the whole family both sleeps, cooks, and lives. Young children have almost no play space, many children have to grow up in the damp walls.
Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong - a worker working near Thang Long Industrial Park - is also living with his son in a similar rented room. His wife and two young children are still in their hometown because they do not have enough conditions to move to Hanoi to live.
He said that many families want to move to a better place to live, but the income of workers is still low. "Every month, the salary for room, electricity, water and food is almost gone. If renting a larger space, it is difficult to save money to send home to the family," he said.
According to a report by the Hanoi Labor Federation, there are about 167,000 workers working in industrial parks in the area, of which more than 60% have to rent rooms in surrounding residential areas. Most are spontaneous rented rooms, living conditions are cramped, unsafe and do not ensure environmental sanitation.
On a national scale, the housing demand of workers is also very large. The supply of housing for workers has not yet met the actual demand.
Therefore, many worker families are forced to choose cheap rented rooms even though living conditions are not guaranteed.
