Creative ways to eliminate temporary housing in the highlands

TPO - The year 2025 ended with a special poverty reduction program on a national scale. That is the temporary housing elimination program that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called "a miracle of poverty reduction", a "Special National Project". In this campaign, in the highlands, specifically the Northern mountainous region - the most difficult region in the country, we have witnessed creative and valuable ways of doing things...

Hang A village in Khao Mang commune, Lao Cai province, is located on a high mountain top. On the road leading to the village, many houses precariously perched on the hillside have been newly built with the help of relatives and villagers. Upon arriving at the village, we met Mr. Thao A Cho, Head of Hang A village, at the house under construction of Mr. Thao A Chu, 52 years old, Mr. Cho's younger brother.

The new house was built on the old foundation, near the village kindergarten. The house is made of wood according to the traditional design of the Mong people, the roof is covered with fibro cement sheets. “Whenever I have free time, I help my younger brother build the house. This is also one of the unwritten conventions of the Mong people,” Mr. Cho shared.

Mr. Thao A Chu's family consists of him, his wife and 5 daughters, 4 of whom are married and living at the husband's house. The family is one of 78 poor households in the village. Mr. Chu's old house has seriously deteriorated, becoming more dilapidated and dangerous after Typhoon Yagi last year. Therefore, he received 60 million VND from the State budget to rebuild it. To have a new house that is spacious and stable for a long time, he borrowed an additional 70 million VND from the Social Policy Bank.

When starting to build the house, Mr. Chu went to each house to call for help in terms of labor from the villagers and received help. Each stage such as leveling the ground, pouring the foundation and carrying wood, about 15 to 20 villagers contributed. According to Mr. Chu, each stage took 1 to 2 days to complete, but the biggest challenge was transporting materials to the village. Relatives in the family had a heavier task, having to help and support until the house was completed. Therefore, Mr. Chu's family only had 2 professional workers to carry out the difficult assembly stages, requiring high technical skills, the rest was relying on brothers and neighbors.

Mr. Thao A Chu's house under construction.

We arrived at Pa Cheo commune in Bat Xat district, Lao Cai province before the administrative boundary merger. Now, Pa Cheo commune belongs to Ban Xeo commune, the new Lao Cai province. Pa Cheo commune has Ban Giang, which means “cloud area”. Mr. Phung, a cadre of Pa Cheo commune at that time, drove me to the village. The old Honda motorbike wobbled through hairpin bends and steep slopes through Ta Pa Cheo and Seo Pa Cheo villages… Many sections of concrete road to Ban Giang were completely stripped after storm No. 3 last year, now replaced by a layer of jagged, sharp rocks. After passing through the thick fog, the sunlight suddenly burst forth, revealing a sea of ​​white clouds floating below. Red and green roofs were hidden on the mountainside, under the lush green peach and pear trees.

The new house of Mr. Ly A Phai and his wife Sung Thi A.

We entered the house of Ly A Phai (born in 1989) and his wife Sung Thi A; the house was completed before the Lunar New Year 2025. The house was built in the style of a Mong house with a solid brick frame and a clean cement floor.

The couple's old house, about 1km away, was built of wood in 2012. It was cold in winter and leaky in the rainy season. When storm No. 3 hit, the house collapsed, and the couple and their children had to stay at a school in Ban Giang. "We spent 160 million VND to build a new house. We received 100 million VND in support, and we borrowed from the bank for the rest. We were worried about debt, but now we are happier and can work with peace of mind," said Mr. Phai.

Passing Ban Giang school to the village cultural house. Behind the cultural house is the house of Mr. Hau A Dung (born in 1982) which has just been renovated. The foundation and part of the wall are built with red bricks, the floor is smoothed with cement. The old wood has been peeled and reassembled, making it look brighter. Mr. Dung said that the cost of repairing the house was 32 million VND but the government has already supported 30 million VND.

I wondered, with such a difficult road to Ban Giang, how do we transport materials, and how expensive are the costs when there are times when materials are scarce? Everyone here smiled and said: The commune government takes care of everything, the people only worry about loading and unloading and construction. The Party Secretary of Pa Cheo commune at that time, Mr. Do Duc Chien happily said: “Our way is to find road construction units, schools, etc. in the area to ask for support. The way to ask for their support is to ask to buy “for free” for the people. For example, if a business buys about 10,000 bricks from the factory for the project, we register for them to buy another 5,000 for the people to build houses”. Mr. Chien said, due to the characteristics of the highlands, sand, cement, and bricks are sometimes supplied by motorbike. At that time, the Youth Union and Women's Union will be mobilized.

From the center of Son La province, we traveled nearly 70km to Phieng Pan commune. As soon as we arrived, Major Vi Van Thich, Captain of the Mass Mobilization Team of Phieng Pan Border Guard Station, was there to pick me up and take me to Den village. As Major Thich had introduced, we had to cross many hills covered in white clouds, with steep slopes and rocky dirt roads.

Border guards helped Mr. Thao A Tang build a new house.

It took us more than an hour to reach the top of Black Mountain. Here, officers and soldiers of Phieng Pan Border Guard Station were assisting the family of Mr. Thao A Tang (52 years old) to build a new house. Mr. Tang's family has 6 members and is in a particularly difficult situation. To help Mr. Tang have a new house, officers, soldiers, and local people spent hundreds of working days.

Border guards help people move materials to build new houses.

With the 60 million VND from the State, he could only buy materials. The entire transportation cost from the commune to the village had to be covered by the soldiers and villagers; the construction was also thanks to the help of the soldiers and villagers. “With everyone’s cooperation, I have a spacious house, enough for 6 people to live in. I am very grateful to the Border Guards and local authorities for helping my family,” Mr. Tang shared.

Mr. Vi Van Nen (45 years old, Den village) has a very special situation. He has arthritis, has difficulty walking, and is unable to work; his weak wife has to take care of the whole family by herself. Mr. Nen shared that when he got married, his parents built him a temporary house made of bamboo and thatch. He lived in a dilapidated house for decades, but did not have the means to build a new one.

“When I received support to demolish the temporary house, I was very worried because I didn’t have any money in the house, and I didn’t know if I could demolish the old house or build a new one to live in. But thanks to the soldiers’ encouragement, they promised that if the house construction fund was insufficient, they would call for more. From that encouragement, I took a risk. Now I feel secure, my wife, children and I have a new house to live in and out of, no longer afraid of the wind and rain,” said Mr. Nen.

We left Tuyen Quang Provincial Center early in the morning, following the provincial road to Phieng Ta village, Minh Quang commune - where Ly Thi Van's house is being built by the union members.

Youth Union members participated in building a house to help Ms. Van.

Ms. Ly Thi Van

The house is located far from the foot of the hill, facing the large fields. When we arrived, Ms. Van was busy helping the group of workers transport materials. She is a Nung ethnic, born in 1985, grew up in a family of seven siblings, her parents passed away early. She got married far from home; in 2022, the marriage was not successful so she had to bring her two children back to her hometown. She had to stay at her sister and brother-in-law's house, living on the help of relatives. Her main job is to grow corn and peanuts seasonally in the fields, when the season is over, she does whatever people hire her to do to earn extra income to raise her children. Her eldest son, out of pity for his mother's hard work, dropped out of school to stay home and help with the field work. As for Ngan Binh, Ms. Van's third grade daughter, she is skinny, having been born with a left hand disability.

Knowing the difficult situation of Ms. Van, Tuyen Quang Provincial Youth Union called for socialized resources to support the construction of a house for her and her three children. The project was supported by 60 million VND from socialized resources mobilized by the Youth Union, the rest was borrowed by Ms. Van to complete. On the morning of March 7, 2024, the project was started in the joy not only of Ms. Van and her three children but also of the union members and youth volunteers who participated. During the construction process, the union members did not hesitate to do anything, whoever could do anything did. Although it was hard, everyone was happy to contribute to help Ms. Van and her three children have a solid home.

Ms. Van looked at the house, smiling slightly as she imagined the day she officially moved in. She said, the day before, she told her daughter: "Ngan Binh, our house has a study table now! Mom also set up an altar for our ancestors!". Hearing her say that, the girl was very happy, and she said she would study hard to become a teacher soon.

The dream house of Ly Thi Van and her three children during construction

The new, spacious house of Mr. Vang Xanh Guyen's family in Nam Tra village, Gia Phu commune, Lao Cai province.

We were led by local officials to visit the family of Vang Xanh Guyen (born 1987) in Nam Tra village in May 2025. At that time, Nam Tra was still in Gia Phu commune, Bao Thang district, Lao Cai province, now Gia Phu commune, new Lao Cai province. Guyen is one of dozens of households in Nam Tra village that had to be urgently evacuated because their house collapsed due to the impact of Typhoon Yagi in September 2024.

The new, spacious house of Mr. Vang Xanh Guyen's family.

Mr. Guyen said that after his house collapsed, he ran around looking for new land to build a house. He thought that he could build a house anywhere in the remote highlands, but with the rugged terrain, halfway up the Hoang Lien Son range, finding a flat piece of land was not easy. Luckily, a relative introduced him to this flat field. When he bought the land, the State supported him with 100 million VND to build a house. During the construction process, Mr. Guyen reported the location of the land he planned to build to the People's Committee of Gia Phu commune. Gia Phu commune asked for the opinion of the People's Committee of Bao Thang district at that time. Fortunately, this land area was not in the protection forest planning so the construction was allowed to continue.

Mr. Le Cong Nguyen, former Vice Chairman of Gia Phu Commune People's Committee, said that the land areas where people were relocated after the storm did not have land use right certificates. If the regulations were followed, there would be no place that was qualified to resettle people because it was interspersed with forest land. Fortunately, this problem was later resolved. Lao Cai Province and Bao Thang District at that time applied an emergency policy to resolve the issue.

Regarding this, Mr. Nguyen Trung Thanh, Vice Chairman of Bao Thang District People's Committee at that time said: "Where there is no planning or plan, the district will supplement the planning for the people. People build new houses according to the land and location so that they do not have to dig, fill, or level hills and mountains, and do not affect the slopes behind. Because digging, filling, and leveling hills also has a high risk of landslides," Mr. Thanh said.

Not only the matter of arranging safe residential areas, cadres and people in the highlands also took advantage to form new residential areas with spacious roads. The most typical story we recorded was in Khe Bin village, Tan Phuong commune, Luc Yen district, Yen Bai province (now Lam Phuong commune, Lao Cai province). During the historic flood that occurred in September 2024, many households in Khe Bin village were almost completely isolated because it was located deep in the mountains, the roads were eroded; many houses were completely damaged.

In early March 2025, we and the working group were present at Khe Bin village to record the joyful, happy and excited atmosphere of the people in the newly built houses. The entire nearly 2km long road running from the commune center through the high hill has been newly opened. The 5m wide concrete road is currently in operation along the entire route. Along the road are 6 houses of 6 families damaged by storms and floods that have also been completed; people have moved in.

Mr. Trieu Tai Ngan hopes that people and neighbors will gather together and help each other in difficult times.

Mr. Nong Thanh Tuan - Chairman of Tan Phuong Commune People's Committee at that time said: "All of these things came from the act of donating land of Mr. Trieu Tai Ngan. We were looking for a house, Mr. Trieu Tai Ngan with a gentle face, a bright smile warmly welcomed us. Mr. Ngan shared, when he knew that the state was investing in opening a road into Khe Bin village, he discussed with his wife and children and came to an agreement to donate land to help open the road and build houses for the people who suffered losses. His family cut down nearly 600 cinnamon trees that had been planted for 6 years and nearly 400 Bodhi trees, with an area of ​​nearly 8,000 m2 of land. Of which, nearly 6,000 m2 were donated to the locality to build roads, and nearly 2,000 m2 were donated to households to build houses. He wanted the villagers to have a new, safe place to live so that they could work together and develop the economy.

The newly opened concrete road promises to help people travel more conveniently, promoting regional economic development.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/nhung-cach-lam-sang-tao-trong-xoa-nha-tam-o-vung-cao-post1801395.tpo