The affordable housing demand of migrant workers in HCM City is very high. —VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, Phan Văn Mãi, said the city plans to build one million units of affordable housing for low-income workers.

The Department of Construction is working with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to review statistics of the State's social housing land fund and has reported back to the City People’s Committee.

The fourth wave of COVID-19 clearly exposed the reality that workers live in large numbers in very small areas. This has had a great impact on the emotional life of the workers.

The city's leaders have recognised the urgent need to build social housing suited to the income of migrant workers.

"Migrant workers play a very important role in the economic and social development of the city, but the city currently does not take care of their lives well enough. In the coming time, the city will have better support policies and benefits for workers," Mãi said.

The city has implemented many projects to build social housing for workers in Linh Trung I, Linh Trung II, and Tân Thuận export processing zones, Tân Tạo Industrial Park, and in new industrial zones.

According to data from the Department of Construction, from the end of 2019 until now, the city has implemented 15 housing projects for workers, equivalent to an area of 47ha.

However, this number is still too small compared to the housing needs of millions of migrant workers in the city.

The biggest difficulty in building social housing for workers is the lack of capital and land. — VNS