Housing support for workers: Why is progress slow?

The amount paid was only 1/3 of the expected amount.

The Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that as of May 16, 2022, the number of workers expected to be supported in the province is 18,000 people, with a budget of 39 billion VND. This data is based on initial reviews of localities and businesses located in the area.

Workers' lives face many difficulties. Photo courtesy of Dinh Tuyen

However, by July 31, 2022, after re-examination, in the forecast list, there are a number of large enterprises that are not located in industrial parks and economic zones, so they are not eligible for policies according to regulations. Based on the labor situation and business operations in industrial parks and economic zones in the province, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs coordinates with districts, cities and towns to review, report and adjust the expected number and budget for implementing the policy of supporting housing rent for workers in the province. Accordingly, the expected number of workers to be supported is 6,520 people. Of which, 5,950 are working workers, 570 are returning to the labor market; the total expected support budget is more than 8.6 billion VND.

A workers' dormitory at Bac Vinh Industrial Park. Photo courtesy of Diep Thanh

However, after a period of reviewing records based on the prescribed criteria, the result was that only 1/3 of the initially expected number of workers were eligible for policy access.

As of August 11, 2022, the province has received and appraised the support requests of 3,537 workers (equivalent to 54.23% of the expected number of workers to be supported), with a budget of more than 3.5 billion VND. The Provincial People's Committee has issued a Decision approving the list and providing 6 support funds for 1,057 workers, with a budget of more than 1.5 billion VND.

Mr. Doan Hong Vu - Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said: Nghe An is a fast-implementing unit and has a fairly detailed system of guidance documents, so although the initial expected number of workers was very high, the labor departments have assessed quite accurately. Therefore, we received the documents, basically just quickly assessed and finalized the payment list to submit to the Department of Finance.

Why slow?

Although the Provincial People's Committee's official dispatch requires payment to be completed before August 15, the payment has not yet been completed. The implementation of the policy to support housing rent for workers in the province has been slow in the past, mainly due to some cases where workers and business owners waited for 3 months to prepare documents to request one-time support, typically the Minh Anh - Kim Lien Garment Company with 450 workers, only submitted them on the morning of August 11 for appraisal. "Many employers are very afraid of having to go back and forth many times to have their documents appraised at the Provincial Social Insurance and at the landlords. There are even very funny reasons that many workers do not submit their documents because they did not declare to the local police before, so if they submit them now, they will be fined by the authorities. Therefore, the review of documents is delayed" - Mr. Vi Ngoc Quynh - Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said.

Ms. Vy Thi Xuan's family in Bac Vinh Industrial Park has continuously faced difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Dinh Tuyen's documents

Another reason for the slow payment progress is that some enterprises have provided dormitory accommodation for workers, so workers will not be supported according to the provisions of Decision No. 08/2022/QD-TTg dated March 28, 2022. Specifically, Luxshare - ICT Co., Ltd. and Merry & Luxshare Co., Ltd., according to the initial review of the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board, have 5,598 workers working with accommodation. However, according to the Company's report, only 992 workers have rented accommodation outside and the Company has made a list of workers requesting support and sent it to the Vinh City People's Committee. "The remaining more than 3,500 workers stay in the free dormitory area so they are not supported and some have not provided enough documents for the company to request support" - Representative of Luxshare - ICT Co., Ltd. said.

"In addition, some businesses and staff in charge of guiding, receiving and evaluating documents lack experience, so there are still situations where workers have to redo their documents," said Mr. Vi Ngoc Quynh.

Currently, many localities with a large number of workers working in industrial parks such as Dien Chau, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc... believe that this policy is truly humane and needs to be resolved quickly so that workers can benefit. However, most workers have submitted their applications since July but have not yet received the support money. Although the application process is quick and streamlined, and the review process is minimized, many applications are still returned. Typically, the boarding house appraisal process also has many laughable details, such as the name of the head of household is the husband's name, but when proposing the application, it is the wife's name, because the wife is an insured worker working in industrial parks but the husband is only a bricklayer; or when applying for approval, workers only need to write their phone number and the phone number of the boarding house owner, the address of the boarding house, but many people still make mistakes, writing their house, causing the appraisal process to be delayed because the department and industry have to return it to the business owner to instruct the workers to do it again.

Mr. Doan Hong Vu - Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said: Immediately after having the final appraisal list, we will submit it for payment and currently have submitted 3,500 files, certainly this August will complete the payment for 6,000 workers whose files have been approved.