Renting 3 new rooms to ensure family activities
Mr. Pham Duy Dinh is currently renting 2 rooms in Nhue village, Thien Loc commune, Hanoi City. The male worker's family has 4 members, including a wife and 2 children. "If I only live in one room, it will be very cramped and inconvenient for the whole family, so for many years now, I have decided to rent both rooms" - Mr. Dinh said.
These 2 rooms are located opposite each other in the same boarding house. The main rented room was used by him for the whole family to rest, do daily activities, and sleep; the remaining rented room was used for cooking and drinking. The main room was rented for him for 500,000 VND/month. The rental room used for cooking is divided into 1 room by the landlord with a rental price of 1 million VND/month. Thus, he has to pay a total of 1.5 million VND per month for the rent. In addition to the electricity and water bills, the amount he has to pay is about more than 2 million VND/month.
Mr. Dinh and his wife are both workers, their income is only about 15-16 million VND/month, while there are many expenses. According to him, with this income, he cannot think about buying a house in Hanoi and if he rents an apartment, even if it is a mini apartment, it will cost more money, not to mention being far from work and the supply is not available. Therefore, renting a house to a resident is still the most feasible and favorable option.
Currently, many families like Mr. Dinh choose to rent many rooms in the same area, or rent 2-3 consecutive "border" rooms that are walls and connected to each other. Despite the additional costs, this price is still acceptable for the worker couple. He hopes to have a place to live in that is suitable for a large family, at a reasonable price compared to his income.
Landlord renovates rooms for workers' families to rent
Understanding this need of workers' families, many landlords, especially in boarding houses that have been built for a long time, have demolished 2-3 rooms for workers' families to rent.
Mr. Do Van Boi (Nhue village, Thien Loc commune, Hanoi) said that in the past, there were many workers renting a room, but in recent years, the number of workers renting a room has decreased. Workers prefer to rent newly built, closed rooms than old, degraded rooms, even though the rental price is cheaper.
Currently, each room in Mr. Boi's house has a quite cheap rental price of 500,000 VND/month, but there are times when the room has to be empty. Recently, he decided to renovate 3 rooms in his house to rent to the worker's family. "I spent 10 million VND to buy raw materials and put in my own labor, without hiring any workers outside. The 3 rooms have been raised in floor space, painted with walls, and connected together for the workers' families to rent, said Mr. Boi.
The rental house has not been repaired yet, but the landlord said that the workers' families have rented it, paying 1.5 million VND per month. Although this rental amount is equal to the rental price of 3 rooms, Mr. Boi said that he wanted to rent out a "comprehensive package of 3 rooms" more, because there were fewer people and it was easier to manage.
In Mr. Boi's boarding house, in addition to small rooms, only about 10m2, there are also rooms that are paved with 2-3 rooms, with larger areas for the couple and the worker's family to rent. In many other old boarding houses, more and more rooms like this have appeared. Renting a larger area means the cost will be higher for workers, while their lives are still difficult.
According to the investigation and survey of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor in March and April 2025 in 10 provinces and centrally run cities with the participation of 3,000 workers and laborers, 54.9% of workers said that their salary and income are just enough to cover the basic expenses of their families; 26.3% have to be frugal, spend miserably; 7.9% are not enough to live on, have to do other jobs to earn more income to cover their living expenses...
