Housing rural to urban migrants in ho chi minh city by Christopher Tran

HOUSING RURAL-TO-URBAN MIGRANTS IN HO CHI MINH CITY By Christopher Tran

COVER PICTURE: LOW-INCOME APARTMENT IN DISTRICT 5, HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM. (PHOTO BY AUTHOR)

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INTRODUCTION Vietnam’s urban centers, and foremost the country’s economic hub, Ho Chi Minh City (hereafter known as HCMC), have felt the most benefit from the Doi Moi Policy, which was realized during the mid-1980s. What the Doi Moi Policy entailed was liberalizing the markets of Vietnam’s economy, where HCMC became the country’s most significant region for flows of both foreign direct investments (FDI) and growth within the economy. As a result, HCMC reports the highest per-capita incomes, but has also the highest degree of social polarization and spatial-fragmentation of Vietnam. (1) The city has also experienced the greatest influx of rural-to-urban migrants out of all urban agglomerations in Vietnam. Migrants from all provinces throughout Vietnam have either sought work seasonally or permanently within HCMC. It is reported that approximately one quarter to one third of the city’s population are considered migrants. HC MC has seen urban growth since the mid to late 1980s due to rural-to-urban migration, but has also struggled with its capabilities in providing adequate technical and social infrastructure. Like in many other developing countries, Vietnam, and HCMC in particular, has seen an increase in unregulated housing formations by migrants. The influx of migrants into HCMC after Doi Moi settled along the canal within the inner city districts, which later grew into large slum dwellings. Neither the government nor the private developers are able to provide the housing needed for the high demographic of migrants entering HCMC each year. The resulting growth in squatter slum settlement comprises about 15% of the housing in the city. (2) With growing redevelopment projects of central city districts within HCMC, many squatter settlements have been eradicated and pushed to the outer-ring districts and adjacent suburbs, which has created a new urban slum dwelling on the outskirts of the city. The coupling of weak government housing policies in addressing lower-income migrants as well as the Vietnam’s re-emphasized focus of economic development, following the country’s inception into the WTO in 2006, have become a point of contention in land-use and housing dialogue. What is central to this research is the housing environment for perhaps the most marginalized members, rural-to-urban poor migrants lacking registration rights, within the economic urban hub, Ho Chi

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Minh City. What is highlighted are how changes in the central government’s economic policy within the past three decades – Doi Moi in 1986 and Vietnam’s accession into the WTO in 2006—have shaped and reshaped the spatial housing landscape for rural-to-urban migrants, and ultimately what policy recommendations on social infrastructure, particularly housing, are needed to address this ongoing problem.

DOI MOI AND THE IGNITION OF MIGRATION From its southern expansion to extend national borders to the division of the country in the mid-1900s to reunification following the Vietnam War in 1975, internal migration has been a key component throughout Vietnam’s history. But in 1986, just a decade following years of a government controlled, collectivized economy, the market reforms of Doi Moi accentuated the diverse opportunities among many regions and provinces throughout the country. (3) But urban hubs such as Hanoi and specifically Ho Chi Minh City benefited most from these market reforms. The trends of population mobility did not simply arise from the market reforms, but also because of the central government’s institutional policy changes in decollectivization, land tenure laws in the rural countryside, and the lax provisions over the household registration laws. The institutional changes of decollectivization and household contract system within the rural areas created a push factor for rural residents to seek better opportunities within the urban centers of the country. Decollectivization brought about a surplus of rural labor, which began to interact with the emerging non-state market within urban hubs. Furthermore, the household contract system allowed rural residents, mainly farmers, the rights to sell or buy land use rights, allowing more flexibility in terms of mobility to other areas where land was more readily available than at home. According to Heather Xiaoquan Zhang, “the erosion of the household registration regime in the cities with the emergence of the non-state market has also promoted mobility…the institutional linkage between urban residence status and provisions of jobs and daily necessities was gradually broken down, being replaced by market mechanisms.” (4) All of these components have shaped the complexity of Vietnam’s migration patterns during the Doi Moi era.

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According to official statistics and census data through Vietnam’s government, the urban population has increased each decennial year from 19.2% in 1979 to 20.1% in 1989 and to 23.5% in 1999. (5) Rural-toUrban migrants have contributed to this overall urban population as a study conducted in 1996 by Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the UNDP revealed the increasing levels of rural-to-urban migration into HCMC and comprised about a quarter of the work-force in the city. These demographic changes and migration patterns ultimately affect the urban landscape and infrastructure of HCMC. Housing, a key component within urban infrastructure, becomes central to the discussion of rural-to-urban migration. What are the options for migrants within HCMC, and how have current government policies addressed the issues of housing urban rural migrant poor within city boundaries? These issues will be explored in the following section.

HOUSING ENVIRONMENT FOR RURAL-TO-URBAN MIGRANTS In discussing the housing environment of rural-to-urban migrants, we must first understand the household registration policies which limit their access to upon arrival to HCMC. The Ho Khau system, according to Save the Children Vietnam, grants a person “full access to a number of key services where they are currently living only if they are a permanent, rather than a temporary resident.” (6) As previously mentioned, household procedures, since Doi Moi, no longer prevented rural migrants from moving into urban centers, but there still exists measures that aim to control migration. According to Michael Waibel, “the most important tool for restricting migration is the division of the Vietnamese population into different categories of residential household status… There are four nation-wide categories, from KT-1 (officially registered permanent citizens) to KT-4 (migrant with temporary residence permit).”(7) Out of these four categories, the KT-4 migrants have the least amount of rights –the inability to purchase land titles in HCMC and limited access to social services— which ultimately place them in precarious housing conditions such as inner-city slum dwellings along the canal or temporary dwellings on the periphery of the city center.

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Inner-City Slum Dwellings Along the Thi Nghe and Nhieu Loc canals, which flows through HCMC’s urban core area, slum formations have emerged since the high influx of rural-to-urban migration post-Doi Moi. Within Ho Chi Minh City’s inner districts, it is estimated that there are still over 67,000 squatter houses, which accommodate roughly 300,000 inhabitants. Approximately one third of these units are built along the polluted Thi Nghe-Nhieu Loc canals. (8) But these establishments, often unregulated by the government due to lack of building permits, have been facing eradication through simultaneous efforts of environmental improvements and urban renewal of HCMC’s core districts. Supported through funds by the World Bank, the Ho Chi Minh Environmental Sanitation project was designed to address the environmental issues HCMC faced. Its intentions were to revive the waterway for a greener and healthier urban living environment. But these efforts displaced many communities living within the area. These types of environmental projects, coupled with the efforts to transform the main core districts of HCMC into business and commercial centers, uprooted the poor and re-housed on ‘new economic wasteland’ on the outskirts” rather than upgrading the slums. (9) The two images below highlight this reality. Page | 5

The blackened waterways seen in both images reveal the environmental degradation of the slums onto the canal.

PHOTOS BY HAO THAN NGUYEN, DISTRICT 8, HO CHI MINH CITY, JULY, 2007.

The photo on the right highlights the efforts to revitalize HCMC’s inner city districts as high-rise apartment complex construction threaten the slum dwellings existence, which ultimately are bound to be cleared, with its residents most likely relocated as the other 35,000 people have been within the past 10 years. (10)

Boarding Houses on the Periphery From 2008 to 2010, I worked and lived in Ho Chi Minh City, and had the opportunity to interview a handful of migrants, many of whom fall into the KT-4 category, in regards to their migration experience, work and living conditions within HCMC. The following excerpts reveal a glimpse of rural-to-urban migrants’ housing conditions in the periphery areas. Throughout the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City lie housing units called Nha Tro, which are considered temporary housing, with a very transient demographic of tenants. Often times these units hold up to ten migrants to a room. More than often, tenants must share a communal bathroom with other units. Running water is not always guaranteed. Bao lives in the outer district of the city, district 6 –on the Southwest border of the city, with his brother, and eleven other individuals in a one large room Nha Tro. Each tenant pays their own portion of rent; Bao pays 50,000 VND a month, which is approximately $4.50 cents a month. I inquired about the living conditions there, and he expressed a sense of mixed joy and unhappiness. The conditions, he told me, were not very good – being overcrowded, having to sleep on the ground next to everyone else, and constant electric cut-offs. From this conversation, one is able to understand the realities of housing conditions for KT-4 migrants within

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the city. The issues of overcrowding, sanitation, and lack of amenities are exposed through the conversation with Bao, a 13 year old migrant from the northern province of Thanh Hoa. The following excerpt—an interview with another rural-to-urban migrant—rings a familiar bell in regards to housing standards and conditions within HCMC. Van lives in District Binh Tan, the western most district of the city, in a Nha Tro. She lives with several other women who are also from the same village as she is in Thanh Hoa. The conditions, she shared, were not adequate even by her standards. She mentioned that electricity was scarce, and that if she needed running water, it was to be gathered by the well. Binh Tan, unlike District 6, is more of a quasi-rural/urban district that is very underdeveloped. According to Van, the rent is cheaper than other Nha Tro in other districts. She stated that despite these conditions, she was willing to live there in order to send more money back to her family. Due to unsanitary conditions, I inquired about health—if she or one of the others living with her were to get sick, what then? She stated that she would just be hopeful to the Gods that she does not get sick, and if she feels unwell, she would purchase medicine from the local pharmacy at low prices. This idea sheds light not only on the limited access to social services, healthcare within the city for those who do have their Ho Khau in HCMC, but also the attitudes of those who struggle to survive each and every day. Both of these excerpts point to the housing options available to many rural-to-urban migrants falling into the KT-4 category. Informal housing settlements often lie within the urban-suburban fringe districts of the city for multiple reasons. According to a case study done by Quang Vinh Nguyen and Michael Leaf on popular housing in HCMC, “low 'effective demand' due to extensive poverty; restrictions on the supply of inputs (particularly land and infrastructure) under conditions of rapid urbanization; or restrictive regulatory practices which place the cost of 'formal' housing beyond the means of large numbers of urban inhabitants” (11) are all reasons for the such a limited viable option in housing for rural migrants. With low demand, and low earnings, migrants are forced to live in Nha Tro, or boarding houses clustered on the periphery districts of the city. As the abovementioned excerpts have revealed, boarding houses are not only isolated in the outer districts but also face infrastructure issues. “The boarding house units were mostly erected spontaneously and often lack technical infrastructure and connect to public transport…rampant theft, drug use, and prostitution are among problems arising in the large boarding house conglomerations”. (12) What this has led to, according to the National Ministry of Construction, is the erection of new slums within the periphery Page | 7

districts of Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam’s Policy on Housing Urban Poor Prior to the shift to a free-market economy, Vietnam’s central government administered and took the responsibility for providing housing for the people. Following Doi Moi, the state has shifted its policy in the supply side of housing for its citizens and has allowed this role to transfer to that of market forces. The reality of housing for rural-to-urban migrants, and the constant challenges they face are stemmed from the shift within Vietnam’s housing policy. As of 2008, Vietnam has passed three Housing Policy Decrees that address the housing concerns for low-income households within urban centers throughout the country. These Decrees encompass urban poor, low-income households, and industrial workers. It can be assumed that rural-to-urban migrants are included within these categories. The scope of these policies is extensive, but there appear to be many shortcomings. According to Decrees No: 18 / NQ-CP, No: 167 / 2008/QD-TTg, and No: 67/2009/QD-TTg, all passed in 2008 and 2009, the underlying general provisions all reflected funding, management, and financial support. (13) According to all three policy decrees, the sole supplier for housing will be the economic sector— private housing developers. The state has provided incentives, such as housing project land deals and tax credits, for private companies to invest in building houses for lease, sale and lease-purchase for low-income people in urban areas as the method for providing adequate housing stock. Furthermore, for each new development that is 10 hectares constructed by private investors, at least 20% of the land to create housing for low-income residents. Low income housing by the decrees definition is an apartment unit not exceeding 70m squared. The government role, thus, has shifted from the supplier of housing stock to that of management and facilitation. According to Decree No: 18, the People’s Committees of provinces and cities under the central authority overlook the planning process by reviewing, modifying or supplementing the planning duties and identify low-income housing development targets.

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Another key component within the government’s policy decrees is the availability of low-interest loans from the central government’s Social Policy Bank, which allows qualified households with loans up to 8 million VND (approximately $363 USD), with an annual interest rate of 3%, to be paid back within 10 years. This money could be used for renting low-income housing units throughout the city. All three policy decrees are extensive within their reach towards providing housing support for the poor. Decree No: 167 / 2008/QD-TTg ranks the order of priority for support of poor households in urban area as follows. Household that have contributed to the revolution, ethnic minority households, disadvantaged households (elderly, disabled), and household living in disadvantaged environments, and remaining households. What is important with this provision is that the government lists exactly the types of poor household that may be eligible to benefit from this policy. Despite the shift within the government’s role as supply actual housing stock for urban poor households, they have drafted comprehensive policies that address housing support for a large number of residents within urban hubs such as Ho Chi Minh City. But all three housing policy decrees have failed to mention the core issue that large cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City face: housing support for rural-tourban migrants. The overwhelming majority of migrants, 87.3%, to urban hubs such as HCMC, hold the KT-4 status, which limit them from accessing basic social services, low-interest loans, and most importantly lowincome housing units. (14)

GLOBALIZATION AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS ON HOUSING POST-WTO Since the economic reforms within the Vietnamese government in 1986, Ho Chi Minh City has seen a great increase in the city’s GDP consistently throughout the years, which has been attributed to increasing foreign direct investment. Investment projects such as clearing up the slum dwellings along the canal were due to foreign investment and foreign aid. Furthermore, central districts have seen private companies construct both commercial and high-end apartment complexes.

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In its quest to develop into the next Economic Tiger, Vietnam has prioritized its land-use for foreign direct investment, further reshaping and fragmenting the spatial landscape. The already limited housing options faced by rural-to-urban migrants within HCMC the decades after Doi Moi are further accentuated with yet another shift within Vietnam’s economic plan. Vietnam’s accession into the WTO and enormous rises in FDI are again threat to the already limited choices for housing for the bourgeoning rural-to-urban population within a city that intends to raise its stock and status within the South-East Asian region.

Economic Development & Projected Population Growth One of the main drivers for the huge influx of rural-to-urban migration within the last three decades was the implementation of the free market system. Since 1986, the urban population has steadily increased, and where the rural migrant population makes up at least one third of the market labor force. The push and full factors, which were examined previously, underscore that one of the key driving factors for migration was for economic reasons. In 2006, Vietnam opened its markets to the global economy as it joined the WTO as the 150th member. This new economic change may encounter similar changes—population growth and migration, and higher investment—that were felt the years following Doi Moi. The Ministry of Planning and Investment, through their General Statistics Office has conducted population projections by provinces from 2009 through 2034. Table 1 below highlights the population projections for specifically Ho Chi Minh City. The highest increase, according to the projection, is between the

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years 2009 and 2014, with an increase in close to one millions city dwellers. Population growth is attributed to many different factors; migration one of them. Similar to what HCMC saw within the last three decades, the projected population growth may be due to the new economic opportunities of intensified FDI following the WTO accession. This factor alone attributes to pull factors for migrants into the city. Since the inception into the WTO, Vietnam experienced a boom in Foreign Direct Investment. Figure 2 below shows that between the years 2006 and 2008, post-WTO accession, registered capital in USD millions have increased almost three fold. With higher investment within HCMC, the demands of labor are also heightened. Foreign companies, to maximize profit, have invested in manufacturing and industry within many third world nations like Vietnam. Many of these sites are located within the urban, sub-urban periphery of urban centers like HCMC, According to Vietnamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s General Statistics Office, the gross national output within the manufacturing industries between 2006 and 2010, increased from 417,813 to 723,954 (Billion Dong).(15)

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Analyzing these variables comprehensively, opens up the door to questions about what HCMC has faced in the past— the capabilities in providing adequate physical and social infrastructure for the increased urban population, many of whom are migrants—and ultimately what it may potentially face within the ensuing years. Within the past three decades, we have seen that Doi Moi’s economic development trends have placed rural-to-urban poor migrants in vulnerable housing positions by displacing them from their communities within the inner-city slum dwellings to the urban-suburban periphery of the city. What this points to is how economic development and land-use are symbiotic within the course of economic liberalization, and now globalization within Vietnam. Consequently, the commodity of land and its use is in high demand, and the existing structures of new slums on the periphery are now contested spaces.

Housing Impacts: Contestation of Land-Use The inner districts of HCMC faced significant decrease of population, not only with the migrant population, but as a whole due to the city’s efforts to create a Central Business District (CBD) since its accession to the WTO. This spatial restructuring of city center HCMC features vast possibilities for shopping, leisure, and consumption, transforming the urban built environment into a modern city. As seen through the image below, HCMC’s downtown skyline has grown with newly erected skyscrapers.

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The key players within the development process of HCMC’s CPD have been both state and local private companies, as well as transnational corporations—international hotel, retail chains and housing development companies. As the inner-city development continues, there has been a simultaneous suburbanization process amongst the wealthier, growing middle-class residents into new urban areas within the outer-ring districts. The current land developments within the core districts have impacted both lower-income and poor migrant households that seek housing as an essential component of livelihood. According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, housing space within HCMC has increased consistently over the last couple of years, but “the rapidly rising demand for housing has not been met.” (16) The abundance of housing space within HCMC vis-à-vis the rising demand for housing reflects both low-income and migrant households’ incapability to compete on the housing market as the housing stock itself has been unaffordable within the past couple of years. (17) Land value increase has not only been seen within the core inner-city districts but has also moved to the peripheral areas as well, where a predominant number of rural-to-urban poor migrant households reside. The budding high-rise apartment complexes throughout HCMC are due to the many local and international housing developing companies targeting high-income groups with high-end serviced apartments. Many of the clientele consist of overseas Vietnamese (Viet Kieu), businessmen and women from industrialized nations and neighboring Asian countries, as well as the burgeoning Vietnamese middle-class, consisting of mostly successful people in business. “The prospects of profits in the upper market sectors have brought 121 internationally-invested property projects to HCMC so far (DPI 2006). With a total volume of over US$5.5 billion (1988-2005), the FDI in this sector has even exceeded that of the industrial sector in HCMC.” (18) As such, a great majority of current housing developments within HCMC are concentrated in large-scale urban expansion projects at the city's periphery in the south (Saigon South-Phu My Hung) and the east (Thu Thiem project, District 2). These new facilities, essentially brand new urban centers outside of the CPD, reflect a conceptually sound technical (housing), and social infrastructure mimicking developments in metropoles in other Southeast Asian countries.

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Two urban expansion projects, Saigon South, also known as Phu My Hung, and Thu Thiem are located on the periphery districts of the city. Table 2 below explains in detail the location of the project, the amount of money, in millions, being invested into new urban districts outside the city center, as well as the leading investor. In Saigon South, a joint venture between the Vietnamese government (30%) and private land developers from Taiwan (70%) have brought fruition to the development. As for the Thu Thiem project in District 2, which has yet to be completed, foreign companies control 100% of the project.

Since its accession into the WTO, public-private partnerships such as the ones seen above have become quite common in Vietnam. What this ultimately leads to is the privatization of urban development. Land use, and housing developments, core components of urban development and renewal are now in the hands of foreign companies. These developments reveal the complexities in terms of land-use and housing policy. The demandside, which many lower income and poor migrant families are apart, encompasses both legal land rights and access to permanent housing in HCMC. Because Vietnamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ho Khau policy holds many limitations on KT-4 migrants living in existing slums and squatter occupied land on the periphery, the exposure to the full force of the marketâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;new housing developments and urban renewal effortsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; threatens their livelihood. As efforts to

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expand new developments on the periphery of the CBD within HCMC is a reality, the “upgrading of the lowincome areas leads to dramatic changes in housing prices, as there is a strong tendency to eventually replace low-income areas with more upmarket urban developments, leading to displacement processes” (19) The transition toward a market system for the allocation of urban space has resulted in economic competition for urban space amongst various stakeholders. High-rise housing projects in the inner city as well as the urban expansion projects to the periphery with their high standards can be seen as islands of modernization and urban renewal. On the city level, these projects are contributing to a mosaic of various land uses, which are increasingly fragmented, often times leaving the most vulnerable populations, KT-4 rural-urban migrants to fend for themselves.

KEY TRENDS: HOUSING, FROM DOI MOI TO WTO Two key events within Vietnam’s economic history have contributed to the shift in population mobility and the supply for viable housing for rural-to-urban migrants entering HCMC. Doi Moi market reforms ignited population shifts between regions and provinces, as many migrants sought better economic opportunities within major cities throughout Vietnam (Hanoi and particularly HCMC). Due to the household registration policies of Ho Khau, many migrants, due to impoverished socio-economic status, formed squatter settlements within the inner-city districts along the various canals that stretched throughout various core districts of the city. These slum settlements were cleared based on multiple factors –simultaneous sustainability efforts through the World Bank as well as urban renewal, modernization efforts by the state. Migrants were thus displaced and relocated to outer-ring districts, suburban periphery of the city. Upon joining the WTO in 2006, these trends were further annunciated as FDI grew substantially with not only the industrial sector growing, but the private housing development sector sky rocketing. Housing developments, targeted towards the wealthy, both locals and expatriates, expanded immensely, now spilling over to the periphery districts where many lower-income, poor migrants communities reside. Despite policy decrees in assisting lower-income urban households set forth by the Central Government, many of the most vulnerable rural-to-urban migrants holding the KT-4 status are excluded from affordable housing options. Page | 15

Following both economic advances, with Doi Moi and the WTO, migrant social and housing safety nets have not been realized. What follows are policy recommendations that address providing adequate social service as well as viable housing options for KT-4 status migrants within not only HCMC, but throughout the nation.

STRATEGIES AND POLICY RECOMMENDATION ON HOUSING FOR MIGRANTS IN HCMC Vietnam’s Central Government has set forth developmental goals which encompass a diverse range of sectors throughout the country. Part of these development goals, Vietnam has addressed goals relating to both poverty and housing. Table 3 highlights reduction of poverty, pro-poor infrastructure development, and social safety nets to support poor and disadvantaged households. These goals, like Vietnam’s policy decrees geared towards rural and urban poor, have supported and helped a substantial amount of poor households within Vietnam, but they have failed to create a comprehensive policy offering housing options and social safety nets for rural-to-urban migrants without the correct registration entering cities like Ho Chi Minh City.

One of the major setbacks for migrants entering HCMC and other urban centers deals with their registration status upon arrival. Because many migrants with the KT-4 are not included in the census data for place of destination, they are excluded from the policymaking process. In order to address the aforementioned issues migrants’ face within HCMC and other areas, there must be changes in the following three realms: 1) Internal migration data collection to support new policies, 2) A reformation of the Ho Khau (Household Registration

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system), and 3) The establishment of migrant-focused planning in both urban centers and periphery industrial regions. Before policies can be made, migrants must be made visible within urban areas. Currently, with the decennial Migration Survey administered by the Central Government, migrants –-seasonal, short-term, and unregistered—are excluded. There must be a revision of questionnaires and survey methods that capture and identify all types of migrants and different migration patterns, and the relative contributions they have on the urban development process within place of destination. Lastly, there must be an improvement of analysis of the data gathered to allow for the integration of comprehensive, quality, and adequate internal migration data in planning and policymaking. The second and perhaps most important aspect is policy recommendation to reform the Ho Khau system. Currently, barriers exists which bar migrants access to not only housing, but education, health care and other basic social services. What must be done is dissociating rural-to-urban migrants’ registration status from their ability to access basic government social services. Regardless of status—permanent or temporary residence—all individuals should be ensured equitable access to services. Since internal migration is a national trend with rural-to-urban just one component, this policy reform must be implemented uniformly throughout the country to protect migrants. Furthermore, capacity building amongst migrants and potential migrants in regards to registration changes should be focused as well. Once this step has been established, there must be further facilitation and management by the local government in regards to incorporating migrants residing in urban and industrial peripheral areas within the policy decrees of supportive housing and social services. Temporary and unregistered migrants (KT-4) must be included within the funding and budgeting components of policymaking. Low-income loans and funding for pro-poor urban infrastructure, facilities and housing should be readily available. In regards to social services, local governments and civil societies within the area of destination should provide and ensure migrants with supportive, integration, and poverty alleviation programs. This comprehensive policy recommendation addresses the root, core problem individuals faced when

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migrating to other provinces. Migrants within Ho Chi Minh City, as throughout the country will experience, first and foremost visibility, and ultimately access to services at place of destination. Though this policy recommendation does not address the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role as a housing supplier nor the private housing market effects on housing developments, it does start with a foundation for vulnerable migrants to access both housing protection and social services. As seen from past three decades to present, temporary and unregistered migrants within HCMC have not been protected in terms of housing security. Many have lived in simple, temporary, self-constructed units, or Nha Tro (boarding houses) which are susceptible to demolition due to urban housing expansion. These developments have left many migrants without a home, without any compensation or assistance in resettlement. Because economic and urban development are realities transition economies like Vietnam face, urban spatial restructuring is inevitable. Ultimately the implementation of the proposed policy recommendation will thus address the root of the problem by providing migrants some level of visibility and access to protect them from potential displacement in the ensuing urban renewal process, and provide a safety net in the resettlement procedures that may follow.

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End Notes 1. 2.

Waibel, Michael, “ Migration to Greater Ho Chi Minh City in the course of Doi Moi Policy” J Urban Health. 2007 May; 84(Suppl 1): 27–34. Published online 2007 March 27.

Zhang, Heather Xiaoquan et al, “Migration in a transitional economy: Beyond the planned and spontaneous dichotomy in Vietnam”, 2006

6. 7.

Save the Children, Child Migration Survey, 2005 Waibel, Michael, “ Migration to Greater Ho Chi Minh City in the course of Doi Moi Policy”

8. 9.

Nguyen, Quang Vinh, Leaf, Michael, “City life in the Village of Ghosts”, 1996 Coit, Katharine, “Housing Policy and Slum Upgrading in Ho Chi Minh City”, 1998

10. Horsley, William, “Vietnam’s Slum Dwellers” BBC-Vietnam http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3945411.stm, 2004 11. Nguyen, Quang Vinh, Leaf, Michael, “City life in the Village of Ghosts”, 1996 12. Waibel, Michael, “ Migration to Greater Ho Chi Minh City in the course of Doi Moi Policy 13. Vietnam Housing Policy Decree No: 18 / NQ-CP, No: 167 / 2008/QD-TTg, No: 67/2009/QD-TTg. http://vanban.chinhphu.vn 14. Waibel, Michael, “ Migration to Greater Ho Chi Minh City in the course of Doi Moi Policy” 15. Vietnam General Statistic Office, http://www.gso.gov.vn, State industrial gross output at constant 1994 prices by industrial activity, 2012 16. Nguyen, Hiep Van, “The track records and challenges of housing problem in Ho Chi Minh City at present up to 2010, Ho Chi Minh City”, 2005 17. Thang, Hoang, "Unfreezing the Property Market", in: Vietnam Economic News, No. 40, 2005 18. Waibel, Michael et al “Housing for Low-income Groups in Ho Chi Minh City between Re-Integration and Fragmentation”, 2007 19. Verschure, Han et al. (2006): Final Evaluation Report – Recommendations for Infrastructure & Resettlement Pilot Project Tan Hoa – Lo Gom Canal Sanitation and Urban Upgrading, Ho Chi Minh City

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