T O W A R D S A SUSTAINABLE V I E W
ON SOCIAL HOUSING IN HANOI
Hans Schenk ‘

1. In tro d u c tio n : social housing in Hanoi
Jn 1999, the Vietnamese Ministry o f Construction published a nicely composed
brochure on the preservation o f Hanoi’ s urban built environment. It focused m ainly
on tw o periods o f the over 1000 years history o f the city. First, the pre-colonial
period (the w alled E m peror’ s Citadel and the commoners g u ild lik e quarter o f the
‘ 36 streets’) and second, the French colonial contribution to H an o i’ s urban
development, m ainly South o f the core o f the city: the centra] Hoan Kiem lake. The
wish to preserve these tw o m ajor urban quarters as it was expressed in the brochure
fell in line w ith the in the 1990s strong national and international calls for heritage
conservation o f the city (Hoang Huu Phe & N ishim ura

1992; Logan 2000,

Ch. 1,7,8; Schcnk 2 0 0 5 )'. It was - for example - also expressed in the effective
protests in these years against plans to construct high rise complexes at or near the
borders o f Hoan K ie m lake, that threatened 10 destroy the cherished skyline and
townscape
In this context o f paying respect to Ihe built environm ent o f H a n o i’ s past one
has to notice that hardly any attention has been given in the brochure o f the M in istry
o f Construction to a third period n f urban development: the quarter o f a century
between - roughly * 1960 and IQS'). This period has been described w ith the
Io llo w in g words only: "A fter 1954, development started again and new quarters
were opened in the outskirts o f the city, to the south southwest and west." (1999,
p 11). D uring those years ‘ H anoi’s socialist face’ has been given shape in Logan’ s
words (2000, pp. 183-220). It consisted o f some m ajor public buildings and

* Ph.D. University o f A m sterdam , The Netherlands.


1959/60 onwards public housing was

incorporated in a Master Plan for Hanoi. It envisaged the idea that employers (state
institutions, state owned factories) were lo house their employees against heavily
subsidized rents o f 1 to 2 % o f m onthly salaries in employers-managcd apartments7.
This concept took shape in the construction o f residential complexes, se lf contained
neighbourhoods, consisting o f m ainly three to four storeys high apartment blocks
and basic services such as kindergarten, schools, medical services and daily shops.
The blocks were often situated in rows, w ith a generous amount o f sem i-public
open spaces in-between w hich were to be used as playgrounds, social meeting
places, etc. These self-contained neighbourhoods came to be known as Khu Tap The
(collective liv in g quarters, K T T fo r short) and were b u ilt in a sem i-circle in the then
sub-urban zone from South-east to West o f the historic c ity . Between 1960 and the

]. ‘Socialist h ousing ’ in Hanoi is well docum ented. For many details, see e.g. Logan (2000),
Trin Duy Luan & N g uyen Q uang Vinh (2001), Pedelahorc de L oddis (2001), Koh (2006),
Gecrtm an (2007). For fine draw ings o f som e K IT, see Ros ( 2 0 0 ) , pp. 270-278).
2. Som e apartm ents were sold, as in K T T T ruong Dinh, a row o f two storey terraced houses
built in 1972. Prices w ere relatively high.

536


TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE V IF W ON SOCIA1

mid 1980s - when Ihc public sociaJ housing programme was abandoned - some 60
large and small K I T have been built, while 400.000 citizens, i.e. 30% o f Ihc urban
population o f the late 1980s were housed in these apartments'
The apartment blocks were most o f the lim e grouped into neighbourhoods,

Apartments in K T T complexes o f the 1970s could measure about 25 sq. meters,
w hile in the 1980s the sizes went up to 40 or even to 65 sq. meters. Sanitary and
other facilities were shared in the K I T o f the early 1960s: six to eight households or
more used one to ile t, one kitchen and one place to bathe. From die 1970s onwards,
these facilities were b u ilt on a private basis. The K T T apartment blocks were b u ilt
in a traditional manner in (he early 1960s, w hile later one pre-fab construction
elements (slabs, the term Plattenbau in German, is often used) were applied, in line
w ith industrial housing in (the socialist regimes in) Europe1.
The first K T T complexes were built w ith foreign technical and financial aid
(from North K orea and other socialist countries). In around 1970, the Vietnamese
M in istry o f C onstruction and Vieinamese architects became responsible for the
design and construction o f the buildings. The public social housing programme in

1. On the olher hand, Trinh Duy Luan & Nguyen Quang Vinh state lhat only 30% of
governm ent officials and w orkers were provided wilh an apartm ent by die end o f the ] 980s,
while the remaining majority had to rind its own way with regard 10 shelter (2001, p.55).
2. I ogan (2000, pp. 206-7) asks attention for the fact lhat the m ikrorayon was actually an
adaptation from the 'n eighbourhood unit' as conceived by ihc A m erican town planner Perry
in 1929. M ore details on P e rr y 's ideas are in Reiner (1963, pp. 60-63). See also section 2.
3. In K I T Than X uan, built in the 1980s, many aparlmcms were split up into two. Designed as
two-room apartm en ts o f over 40 sq meters, single room apartm ents have em erged, with
literally halved kitchens, toilets and bathrooms
4. See W agcnaar & Dings, 2004. passim.
537


VIỆT NAM HỌC - KỲ YÉI) HỘI T H Ả O QUỎC TÉ LÀN THỦ T Ư

Vietnam ended almost com pletely in 1986 due to economic problems and the
introduction o f a new more liberal economic regime (d o i m oi) in w hich the

contributed to a rapid wear and tear o f the buildings2. This was further acceleratcd
by the general in su fficie n t maintenance1, fa ilin g infrastructural fa cilitie s such as
inadequate water pressure, choked drains and poor construction materials. In a
publication o f the M in is try o f Construction o f 1996, m ention is made o f the
"makeshift m aterials since 1956 (wood, bamboo, plastered wails, etc.). Most o f

1. In som e K T T com plexe s such as Thanh Xuan Bac a higher standard was applied: 6 sq.
meters per person. A distinction has to be m ade between co-called C lass 1 apartm enlbuildings (4 sq. m.) and class II en HI buildings (6 sq. m ).
2. In addition, the constructive elem ents (joints, etc) were not necessarily geared tow ards the
vagaries o f the North V ietnam ese climate.
3. The costs o f m aintenance o f the apartm ent blocks had to be generated by rents that were in
general far too low to cover such costs. Roh mentions that the m unicipal housing authority
o f Hanoi could only com plete 2 0 % o f the w ork needed to m aintain its housing stock
properly (2006, p.215).
538


TOW ARDS A SUSTAINABLE VIEW ON SOCIAL

these c o n s tru c tio n ^ ] should have been abandoned since 1970-Ì975 but are s till
used." (p. 33). In addition: the weak soils o f Hanoi cannot carry the K I T blocks
w hich regularly subside and crcatc technical deficiencies. The result is often that o f
"high-storey slum s", concludes T rin T)uy I uan (2000, p.95).
Q ualitative and quantitative deficiencies lead to the second point o f criticism :
the pcrceivcd lack among residents to he allowed to build themselves. This desires
encompasses a w ide Tange o f possible options, from house repairs to (ille ga l)
extensions o f apartments' and to the sub division o f the com m only shared service
areas into privately used ones. As Tran Hoai Anh put the latter:

people cooked

national, state and local level and a even less accessible ju n g le o f plans, projects,
etc. to house an enormous number o f categories o f e lig ible citizens fo r all sorts o f
accom modation from rental to purchase and to elim inate the sub-human slum s'.
O bviously, most attention was given to low er income groups, or specifications
th e re of and housing was to be provided againsl highly subsidized rates. But even
then, many analysts, such as the regional planner K undu conclude, "... urban
housing schemes, even under extremely favourable circumstances, f a i l to reach

1. C ongres Intcrnationaux
Architecture)..

d'Architccture

M odem e

(IntematiQnal

C ongress

o f M o d em

2. H ow ever, the Soviet planners claimccl the superiority o f t h c i r fully controlled lown planning
and housing a rran g e m e n ts as against the chaotic contradictory con dition s in capitalist cilics.
See e.g. Rimsha, (1976, p 10)

3 Hie best overall account to gel some grip or til is matter is given by Kundu (1993)
543


VIỆT NAM HỌC - KỲ YÊU HỘI T H Ả O QUỎC T Ế LÀN T H Ứ T Ư

lu rn cr and Associates, 1980, p

M etropolitan

47). What went

wrong? Also here, lack o f funds is the o ffic ia l explanation, and as such this is true.
Out o f the invested Rupees per apartment, not more that 9% was collected in the
form o f m onthly rents, though more than 20% was calculated beforehand (costs o f
maintenance and repairs were not even included in (he cost-benefit calculations).
The Tam il Nadu Slate authorities decided that they could not continue to invest on a
massive scalc in housing in Madras

However, Ihc slate was its e lf responsible for

its failure. It promised a (populist?) solution that made it immensely popular for a
tew years among many urban poor but which was far from viable. Even more
important, il was not able and/or w illin g to enforce its own rules and regulations,
such as collecting rents. Politicians in Madras were highly responsible for this state
o f affairs as they ‘ o ffe re d ’ some sort o f pscudo-legalized ‘ paym ent-holiday’ in
exchange for a vote in one o f the local or stale elections. The relevant authorities
did not dare to withstand this political pressure. M any re-housed slum dwellers
happily co-operated to participate in ihese created vote banks!
Madras is an example o f a city in which rc-housing in apartmenl buildings
fo r low income categories o f the local population was tried deep into the 1970s.
Some other m illio n cities, such as Bangalore continued this housing policy,
though on a very modest and hardly noticeable scale o f 210 annual d w e llin g units
during the 1980s (Schenk 2001, p.265)3 In other large cities the tide turned from
the late 1960s and early 1970s onwards. Formal housing in m iddle rise aparlmenl
blocks o f (hose citizens who were both poor and badly housed gradually gave

housing in India (as w e ll as in other developing countries) emerged from - say 1970 onwards and explained that it was not feasible any more to expect from ‘:he
state’ to o ffe r the solution o f the ‘ housing question

. To the contrary, it was

argued; the slum dwellers could solve th e ir housing problem s themselves in a
much better way, provided the public authorities fa cilitated th e ir e fforts. A t (his
ju n ctio n , the W o rld Rank started to support ‘ s e lf-h e lp ’ housing projects in
developing countries w ith loans 10 state and local authorities, w h ile it abandoned
the financing o f form al housing schemes. Thus, both on a dom inant ideological
level and on the level o f more and more indispensable fo reign housing loans, it
was advocated that housing should largely be transferred from the p u blic 10 the
private sector. One could also argue thai India stopped pursuing a development
path towards m odernization along outlines o f the w elfa re state in the urban
housing sector.
Let me return to H anoi. A fte r all: Hanoi did b u ild apartments fo r its citizens,
and even on a fa irly large scale, and du rin g a long period. It is w id e ly rccognised
that these apartments were small and poorly equipped. It is true too that the
housing programme catered to workers in the p u b lic sector only, w h ile otters
were not looked after. It is true too that H anoi did not have the problem s c f a
rapidly grow ing m etropolis in a developing country. To the contrary, due to the
war and also due to restrictive policies w ith regard to settling in urban areas (the
household registration system) H a n o i’ s population declined d u ring the late 1950s
and early

1970s. But also its housing stock suffered:

17,000 houses uere

destroyed by IJS bom bings, and N orth V ietnam and H anoi had other, rrore

w ith regard to their dw ellings in K T T building then (before - say - 1985) and now
The remarks arc based on a small survey that I conducted in December 2003 and
that included some questions on dwelling histories and residential satisfaction, etc
o f inhabitants o f a few K T T . The results o f ihese discussions are certainly not
representative fo r the population o f all Flanoi’ s K T T o f fo r one K I T in particular.
They focus on the question whether the residents o f K T T apartments agreed w ith
the dominant opinions about their housing which were given in the first section.
Subsequently they result into tentahve answers only.
A ll my respondents who lived in a K T Ĩ apartment before about 1985 agreed
that they were happy to get this place to live at that time 1 did not register - even in
retrospect - com plaints about major deficiencies o f the K T T blocks and its
apartments, allhough it was often stated that the materials o f the blocks b uilt w ith
North Korean or Chinese aid were o f a better quality. Some respondents elaborated

1. Shannon writes in a similar vein:

we can refer to the proclamations, that the slaie (North

Vietnam, HS) acknowledges the rig h t to certain minimum standards o f housing fo r every
family. And, unlike the experience in almost a ll other countries (communist or capitalist
alike) that have included similar statements in their constitution, this right was guaranteed -

though at low standards - in North Vietnam until the late seventies even in the big cities".
(2003, p.6).
2. I held semi-structurcd interviews with (he help o f an interpreter with 27 randomly
chosen residents in the following K IT : Nguyen Cong Tru, Quynh Mai, Kim Lien,
Quynh Loi, Tran Ọuoc Toan, Than Xuan Bac (North) and Phuong Mai, all given oul for
rent, and in Truong Ding (given out for sale). All interviewees were quite willing to talk
on the subjects I raised.
547

population and many urban factories). D uring the 1990s it was much more d iffic u lt
to get an apartment, but then under quite different conditions: that o f an emerging
housing market w ith an increasing number o f residential choices. W ith regard to
social and/or p o litica l rankings, several (retired) high ranking o ffic ia ls told me that
they could very q u ickly get an apartment, such as in K T T Tran Quoc Toan, Quynh
L o i and Phuong M ai (A respondent said: "Since I was a high ranking o ffice r ... Ỉ
could easily get an apartm ent"). In some cases, such as in K I T K im Lien, the
apartments were tailor-m ade according to social status: A -blocks fo r Russian
experts, R -blocks fo r a]] kinds o f state employees and the C -blocks fo r low -level

l . T h e regular criteria she m entioned were: n u m b e r o f w orkers in the household, n um ber of
years working in the factory, achievem ents in the production unit, presenl housing condition.
Priority was given to war veterans, w hile she said lhat m em bership o f the C o m m u n is t Party
played only a m arginal role.
548


TOWARDS A S U S T A IN A B LE V IE W ON SOCIAL

sta ff1. Hlsewhcre Iwo apartments nexl to cach other were dislributed lo a high
ranking o ffic e r ("ju st lower than the minister" as a respondent said). A lic r the
liberalisation o f the housing and construction markets in Hanoi in the 1990s, the
K l I apartments remained popular That means: for some. M any who could afford
it, moved away, possibly to a privately designed and b u ilt house2. Those who siaycd
arc often cider people as w ell as those who prefer the subsidized low rents or cannot
afford higher costs o f accommodation Manv o f the residents o f these categories
praise the nearby facilities and sometimes even the infrastructure, though some have
complaints about the overcrowded K IT blocks. They could have bought their
apartment from the managing Land and Housing Department o f Hanoi since 1994 at
highly concessional rates. Sonic did not as (hey did not see the point in buying

neighbourhood units b u ilt during between 1960 and the mid 1980s, I add two
different - additional perhaps - lines o f reasoning w ith regard to a more balanced
and sustainable view on social housing in the neighbourhood units in H anoi’ s ‘ red
belt’ . First, I look at the K I T from a lim ited comparative perspective; in this case a
perspective from social housing in urban India. This comparison is su fficie ntly
valid, as I wrote in section 2, and it is relevant as housing policies and practices in
India do matter, due to its ‘w e ig h t’ in the kaleidoscope o f developing countries. 1

1. Buying/bought has to be put between parentheses as those citizens w ithout permanent
registration cards cannot buy and legally own an apartm ents that is pari o f the public
housing stock. Those without papers or with only a tem porary registration can go for a rental
contract only and pay a sizeable am ount o f key-money, and are often exploited
550


TOWARDS A S U S TA IN A B LE VIEW ON S O C IA l

conclude subsequently, and I do it with sonic emphasis, that (he housing authorities
in North Vietnam and Hanoi can he satisfied - and perhaps even proud - w ith their
endeavour w ith regard to social housing, in spite o f all deficiencies and lim itations.
Sccond, many inhabitants were happy 1a be housed in an apartment in one o f the
neighbourhood units, as I wrote in scclion 3. O f course, one has to relate this
satisfaction to the housing conditions in Hanoi in terms o f quantity and o f quality
before and after the mid 1980s. Before this

watershed' shortage o f housing in

general made an apartment in a K I T block - as said - a lucky number in a lottery
that was held only among employees and workers in state institutions and factories.
Afterwards such an apartment became increasingly some sort o f refuge fo r those

guiding p rinciple in the tow n planning o f the city. And ... does H an o i’ s history o f
over 1000 years not deserve a museum o f its Khu Kap The, based in one o f the
K T T , such as Nguyen Cong Tru, Tning Tu or Giang Vo.

551


VIỆT NAM H Ọ C - KỶ YẾU HỘI T H Ả O QUỐC TÉ LÀN T H Ừ T ư

References
1. Cerise, Emmanuel (2001). La densification des quartiers de logement collectif, in,
Pierre Clement & Nathalie Lancret (eds), Hanoi, Le cycle ces metamorphoses. Formes
architecturales el urHaines, l^es cahiers de ripraus. Editions Recherches/lpraus. Paris.
Pp. 311-323.
2. Choay, Fr., (1965) i'JJrbanisme, utopies et realties, une anothologie. Editions du
Seui], Paris.
3. Engels, Friedrich (1970) Over het Woningvraagsiuk. Nijmegen (Dutch translation of
the second, revised edition o f Zur Wohnungsfrage [original 1872-73] Vo] 18, MarxEngels Werke, Institute for Marxism-Leninism, Berlin, 1969)
4. Evertsz, H. (2000). Popular Housing in Hanoi. Shelter and Living in Hanoi, No. 3.
Cultural Publishing House, Hanoi
5. Fisher, Jack c . (1962) Planning the City o f Socialist Man, in , Journal o f the
American Institute o f Planners, Vol. XXVIĨ1, n. 4, pp.251/265.
6. Geertman, Stephanie (2007) The Self-Organizing City in Vietnam, Processes oj
Change and Transformation in Housing in Hanoi. Diss. Technical University
Eindhoven.
7. Government o f Bombay (1959) Housing and Housing Finance Panel, Report o f the
panels appointed by the Study Group fo r Greater Bombay Bombay.
8

Hoang Huu Phe (2001) Housing and Urban Form in Vietnam: Home improvement

Structure Plan for madras Metropolituh Area, Vol I

Existing Situation. Madras

I ,ondon
15. Ministry o f Construction. National Institute lor Urban and Rural Planning (1996).
Population and Urban Living Environment in Hanoi City. National Political
Publishing House, Hanoi
16. Ministry o f Construction, Rcscarch Institute o f Architecture (1999). Preserving
Hanoi's Architectural and Landscape Heritage. Construction Publishing House,
Hanoi.
17. Nguyen Xuan Mai (2001). Housing Problem in Hanio: Status quo and future
requirements, in, Hans Scheiik & Trinh Duy Luan (cds), Housing and Land in Hanoi,
Shelter and Living in Hanoi, nn.2. Cultural Publishing House, Hanoi. Pp. 129-146.
18. Pcdelahorc dc Loddis, Christian {2001). rHabitat colleclif a Hanoi, in, Pierre
Clement and Nathalie Lancret (eds), Hanoi, le Cycle des metamorphoses

Les

Cahiers de ripraus, Editions Rccherchcs/lpraus, Paris, pp 297-311
19. Ramani, Rumani (1985). Slums o f Madras City. Interns Report No. 3. Madras
Institute o f Development Studies, Madras.
20. Reiner, Thomas A. (1963). The Place o f the ideal Community in Urhan Planning.
University o f Pennsylvania Press, PhiladcdcJpbia.
21. Rimsha, A. (1976). Town Planning in Hot Climates, (translated from the Russian),
M ir Publishers, Moscow.
22. Ros, Lisa (2001). Typologies de ]’habitat dans leur rapport a I’espace urbain en
peri-urbain Cahiers de releves (d’apres les travaux de C liA A Metropoles d’ AsiePacifique), in, Pierre Clement and Nathalie Lancret (eds), Hanoi, le Cycle des
metamorphoses. Ix s cahiers de I’ Ipraus. Editions Rccherches/lpraus, Paris, pp. 243­
278.

Appearance, in, Trinh Duy Luan & Hans Schenk (eds), Shelter and Living in Hanoi,
Vol 1. Cultural Publishing House, Hanoi, pp 85-104.
30 Trinh Duy Luan and Nguyen Quang Vinh (2001). Socio-economic Impacts o f 'D o i
M n i" on Urban Housing in Vietnam. Social Sciences Publishing House, Hanoi
31. Wagenaar, Cor and Mieke Dings (eds) ( 2004). Ideals in Concrete, expiortng
Central and Eastern Europe Nai Publishers, Rotterdam.

554