Not interested in workers' housing, social housing
Ms. Bui Ngoc Anh is a worker at Thang Long Industrial Park (Hai Boi Commune, Dong Anh District, Hanoi). Although she is renting a house at a housing project for workers here, Ms. Anh said that if she had the means to buy, she would not choose to buy worker housing.
“My family has lived here since 2020. Honestly, because of difficult circumstances, we had to rent a house here to save money, but the quality of the house is very poor. The elevator is constantly broken, the floor peels off and explodes every few days. Even if we could buy a house at a preferential price, I think my family would not choose to buy a building like this. Workers' salaries are low, saving up all their lives to buy a small house, no one would choose a building that has deteriorated before being lived in like this,” said Ms. Anh.
According to Mr. Le Van Nghia - Head of the Trade Union Institution Project Management Board, Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, some current housing projects for workers still have many shortcomings.
“Currently, some places of workers' housing are degraded, unsafe and even dangerous for residents. Elevators must be inspected, if they fall frequently, it is very dangerous. In addition, electricity and water must also be guaranteed to be safe for users according to regulations. I think there are problems in the management of the quality of our projects. I must also say frankly that the investors of these projects still lack proper attention, leading to low quality of the projects. I really hope that these degraded workers' housing projects will soon be repaired and their quality improved so that workers can benefit,” said Mr. Nghia.
To ensure that workers' housing and social housing do not mean poor quality
According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Nam - General Director of G-Home Joint Stock Company (a unit specializing in building social housing), to improve the quality of social housing, it is necessary to change the mindset right from the beginning.
“Our law does not have any specific regulations that the quality of social housing must be lower than that of commercial housing. Everything must comply with the regulations and standards of the Ministry of Construction. From the perspective of someone who works directly here, I find that it is more difficult for the Department of Construction to come and inspect social housing than commercial housing,” said Mr. Nam.
According to Mr. Nam, in order for social housing and workers' housing to always operate smoothly and without incidents, construction maintenance needs investment and attention.
“We should use service and maintenance fees to ensure the operation of systems in buildings such as elevator systems. We also need regular maintenance. The budget cannot only rely on state subsidies. Residents will have to elect a management board to do these things,” said Mr. Nam. The subsidy mindset needs to be eliminated so that residents of these buildings are more aware of protecting the houses built for them.
