World Courant
Hanoi, Vietnam – In Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan district, the place labyrinthine alleys bustle with residential life and college college students, reminiscences of final yr’s lethal house fireplace linger.
Late on the evening of September 12, 2023, a hearth ripped by way of an house constructing on Khuong Ha Road in Khuong Dinh district, killing 56 individuals, together with 4 kids.
Police decided that the fireplace began by a brief circuit within the electrical wiring of a scooter parked on the primary ground, earlier than shortly spreading to the higher flooring of the constructing – added by the constructing proprietor to forestall small, subdivided to create residences that might home thrice as many tenants.
For years, micro-apartments generally known as “chung cu mini” have sprung up in Vietnam’s metropolises, cramming low-income households and college students into substandard, fire-prone housing.
“These residences are like mushrooms, they’re all over the place,” Lan Vo, a former resident of a micro-apartment in Thanh Xuan, informed Al Jazeera, asking to be referred to by a pseudonym to keep away from harassment.
A hearth at an house constructing on Khuong Ha Road final yr killed 56 individuals, together with 4 kids (Coby Hobbs/Al Jazeera)
In an interview with state media final yr, Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh Metropolis Actual Property Affiliation, attributed the increase in micro-apartments because the 2010s to a scarcity of housing for low-income individuals.
September’s catastrophe and different fires in micro-apartment blocks have pressured Vietnamese authorities to confront the risks of lax constructing and fireplace codes and the shortcomings of the nation’s social housing infrastructure.
However even because the nation mourns the lifeless and authorities inspections sweep the nation, municipalities are paralyzed with regards to banning the constructions due to the uncommon affordability they provide low-income metropolis residents.
Micro-apartment blocks are normally designed within the fashion of an extended, slim tube. The residences are constructed on small plots within the slim alleys of densely populated neighborhoods and are sometimes positioned in shut proximity to universities, residence college students and low-income households.
The Ho Chi Minh Metropolis Development Division estimated that the monetary capital had greater than 60,000 micro-apartment buildings consisting of about 600,000 residences by mid-2022.
Chau, the chairman of the actual property affiliation, stated in his interview with state media that the residences in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis alone home about 1.8 million individuals and about 40 p.c of the working inhabitants.
The town’s police division has reported that there are at the moment round 42,200 micro-apartments obtainable for hire.
Though there isn’t a official information for Hanoi, a minimum of 2,000 micro-apartment buildings are linked to town’s electrical energy grid, in line with nationwide utility Vietnam Electrical energy.
There are dozens of micro-apartments in slim alleys in Hanoi’s Khuong Dinh district (Coby Hobss/Al Jazeera)
Throughout a latest go to to the Khuong Dinh district, the location of the September fireplace, Al Jazeera noticed dozens of residences confined to slim alleys.
Different clusters of residences will be present in neighborhoods close to universities, equivalent to Hoang Mai, Cau Giay, Bac Tu Liem and Nam Tu Liem.
“(Tenants) are principally younger employees and plenty of college students who dwell collectively,” stated Vo, the previous micro-apartment resident.
“Because of the excessive hire costs, college students typically dwell collectively in teams of three to 5 individuals to share hire and utilities.”
The gross sales worth for a micro-apartment will be as little as VND600 million ($24,615), making the lodging the most cost effective type of actual property obtainable in most Vietnamese cities.
But in Vietnam, the place the minimal wage is simply $200 a month, renters – particularly college students – can nonetheless battle to pay hire.
Though Vo was comparatively glad along with her houses, she witnessed others experiencing a lot worse situations than her.
“The constructing I lived in had about eight to 10 rooms, however the constructing subsequent to mine had 30 rooms,” Vo stated.
“Grasping landlords try to cram in as many individuals as doable to get extra hire. When you concentrate on it, it appears to be like like a can of sardines,” she added.
For residents, the need to cram as many tenants as doable into buildings threatens not solely their consolation, but additionally their security.
The slim and busy alleys wherein the buildings are positioned typically restrict accessibility for fireplace engines. Some residences wouldn’t have emergency exits and different fireplace prevention options.
Within the case of the Khuong Ha Road fireplace in September, fireplace vehicles and first responders reportedly had problem reaching the house as a result of narrowness of the neighborhood’s alleys.
Vo stated tenants in her neighborhood often met for “fireplace security drills,” however the drills — which consisted primarily of fireside prevention ideas, equivalent to not leaving heaters on — have been overshadowed by the dearth of emergency ladders on the buildings.
Thuy Hai, a Hanoi College scholar who lives in a micro-apartment, stated there aren’t any month-to-month fireplace drills in her neighborhood in Thanh Xuan.
“As an alternative, they (the owner) simply left a hearth extinguisher at my entrance door,” she informed Al Jazeera. “They did not even train me the way to use it.”
“Tiger cages,” metallic bars round home windows and balconies designed to forestall break-ins and falls, are additionally highlighted as a safety threat.
So-called ‘tiger cages’ have been highlighted as considered one of many safety dangers going through residents of Vietnam’s micro-apartments (Coby Hobbs/Al Jazeera)
In September alone, Hanoi suffered 5 fires of various sizes, in line with a state media report.
Colonel Duong Duc Hai, deputy director of Hanoi police, informed the native newspaper that energy grid quick circuits have been the principle explanation for 96 p.c of those fires.
Tenants’ scooters are usually saved on the underside ground of house buildings, which poses potential security hazards together with blocked exits and electrical faults.
A witness to the Thanh Xuan fireplace in September informed Al Jazeera that the constructing’s proprietor, Nghiem Quang Minh, had employed an aged safety guard to handle the tenants’ scooters on the underside ground, however he was typically overwhelmed by the quantity autos.
The witness stated the safety guard was paid based mostly on the variety of scooters he may park, prompting him to take as many as he may.
Property house owners additionally seem to have constructed extra flooring and rooms, violating contract agreements and laws.
Minh, who’s now being prosecuted for alleged fireplace code violations, has constructed a minimum of eight different micro-apartment buildings in varied districts of Hanoi, in line with regulation enforcement officers.
None of those residences met fireplace security requirements and all have been discovered to have unauthorized extensions, state media reported.
Vietnam just lately modified the regulation for micro-apartments (Coby Hobbs/Al Jazeera)
For years, Vietnamese regulation didn’t outline micro-apartments or embrace them underneath a selected authorized framework. That modified in November when the Nationwide Meeting amended the regulation to grant them authorized standing.
When the adjustments come into impact on January 1, 2025, builders will nonetheless be allowed to construct micro-apartments on residential land on which they’ve land use rights.
The adjustments set up situations for “particular person” builders who construct and personal the buildings.
In accordance with the laws, particular person buyers will face larger obstacles to creating micro-apartments than established actual property corporations, together with the requirement to have a minimal quantity of funding capital.
Earlier than the regulation adjustments, lawmakers debated whether or not there could be stricter guidelines for micro-apartments unenforceable or whether or not they need to even be authorized.
Trinh Xuan An, a delegate from the Nationwide Meeting, informed native media that the federal government “mustn’t help the development of mini-apartment buildings, however ought to as an alternative help the event of social housing tasks for low-income individuals.”
Different lawmakers emphasised that any new laws would enable renters to securely entry a well-liked type of lodging.
A recurring aspect within the debate is affordability.
In Hanoi, a quickly rising inhabitants has made town some of the densely populated city areas on the earth.
For a lot of price-conscious renters, the dearth of housing choices within the suburbs makes micro-apartments a logical selection.
Regardless of the dangers, the cramped items have confirmed common with college students and low-income employees.
Ex-tenant Vo stated that the residences are nonetheless a greater choice than social housing for individuals like her and that stricter laws could be a greater choice than a ban.
“Tenants also needs to have the ability to complain immediately about critical issues and never have to attend many years for a response from the federal government, particularly when it considerations their very own security,” she says.
Vietnam’s micro-apartments are a godsend for the poor – and a lethal threat Housing Information
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