Ho Chi Minh City plans to eliminate temporary and dilapidated housing by April 2025

Businesses and organizations in Ho Chi Minh City donate homes to workers in difficult circumstances. (Photo: VNA)

During a recent press conference, the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Department on Popularization and Education and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications provided updates on the city's socio-economic issues over the past week.

At the press conference, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hong Ha, Chief of the Office of the Steering Committee for Sustainable Poverty Reduction of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, stated that the Department has collaborated with districts and Thu Duc City to review and identify 325 temporary and dilapidated houses (129 for poor households and 196 for near-poor households) that need to be rebuilt or repaired across eight localities, with an estimated total cost of VND15.876 billion.

The Department is working with the Ho Chi Minh City Fatherland Front and local districts, including Thu Duc City, to mobilize resources and contributions to the "For the Poor" fund to eliminate temporary and dilapidated housing in the area. The program is expected to be completed by April 2025, in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the southern liberation and national reunification. Funding for the program will come from the Ho Chi Minh City "For the Poor" fund. Specifically, for building charity houses, the support is VND60 million per house (VND70 million per house in Can Gio and Nha Be districts). For house repairs, support will vary depending on the level of damage, but will not exceed 80% of the cost of building a charity house.

In addition, local authorities are also encouraging public contributions to further support poor and near-poor households with additional financial assistance, equipment and household items as a gift for their new homes. Ho Chi Minh City's sustainable poverty reduction program also offers a loan support policy, allowing a maximum loan of VND100 million per household, with a loan period of up to 120 months (10 years) and a preferential interest rate of 0.5% per month (6% per year), to help households invest in better construction and repairs.

"In Ho Chi Minh City, through various support solutions and the people's efforts to rise out of poverty, the city's poverty rate has decreased from 1.49% to 0.33%. The city has also identified 2024 as the year to accelerate efforts to eliminate poverty according to the city's 2021-2025 poverty standard, aiming to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the southern liberation and national reunification," Mrs. Ha added./.