Municipal authorities are striving to provide low-cost housing to the city’s growing population, but a land shortage stands in their way.
According to Tuoi Tre, successful housing initiatives in Binh Duong, such as the construction of modest, 30-square-meter apartments for low-income workers, have inspired similar demands from low-income earners living in Saigon.
However, the city only has room for 1% of these residents, as a scarcity of available space limits Saigon’s low-cost housing to about 10,000 apartments of the same scale, reports Phap Luat, citing a recent proposal from the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA) to the municipal government. The news outlet cited a survey from the HCMC Institute of Development Studies which estimates that about 81,000 families will be looking for social housing in the period from 2016 until 2020.
Though official statistics put Saigon’s population at 8.14 million, HoREA chairman Le Hoang Chau estimates nearly 13 million people now live in the city, 23% of whom are migrants, according to Phap Luat. A 2015 World Bank report emphasizes the importance of providing a sufficient supply of affordable housing in order to fuel the country’s continued productivity and development.
Though Saigon is expected to face housing challenges in the coming year, the local government is working to create adequate housing for Saigon’s many residents. Several mid- to low-end housing projects cropped up in the southern hub last year, replacing old buildings along the way. According to the Vietnam Economic Times, investors are planning to introduce more such projects in 2017.
[Photo via Mua Nha Dep]
