Launching a nationwide campaign to support the elimination of temporary and dilapidated houses.
On the evening of October 5th, the Government and the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front jointly organized a program to launch a nationwide campaign to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses with the theme: "A warm home for my compatriots".
Attending the program, on the Party and State leadership side were: Comrade Pham Minh Chinh - Member of the Political Bureau, Prime Minister, Chairman of the Central Emulation and Commendation Council; Comrade Luong Cuong - Member of the Political Bureau, Standing Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party; Comrade Do Van Chien - Member of the Political Bureau, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front; Comrade Nguyen Trong Nghia - Member of the Political Bureau, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, Head of the Central Propaganda Department; Comrade Nguyen Hoa Binh - Member of the Political Bureau, Standing Deputy Prime Minister; General Phan Van Giang - Member of the Political Bureau, Minister of National Defense; and Senior General Luong Tam Quang - Member of the Political Bureau, Minister of Public Security.
Also attending were members of the Central Committee of the Party, Deputy Prime Ministers, Vice Chairmen of the National Assembly, leaders of central ministries and agencies, provinces and centrally-administered cities, leaders of a number of corporations, general companies, enterprises, and philanthropists…
Representing Nghe An province at the program were: Mr. Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Ms. Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairwoman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee; and Mr. Doan Hong Vu - Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.
The "Shelter for My Compatriots" program is organized with the desire to mobilize additional resources from businesses, agencies, organizations, collectives, philanthropists, and all sectors of the population in the country, as well as Vietnamese people abroad, to wholeheartedly support approximately 150,000 poor households and households with housing difficulties to eliminate temporary or dilapidated houses by 2025.
The goal is for all citizens to be able to live in "three-solid" houses: solid roofs, solid foundations, and solid walls. This is a beautiful and challenging aspiration, which can only be achieved with the joint efforts of the entire society.
Speaking at the program, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said that over the years, with the attention and guidance of the Party and State leaders, and the involvement of the entire political system, Vietnam has achieved positive results in implementing social security policies and carrying out a multidimensional, inclusive, and sustainable poverty reduction program. In particular, efforts to eliminate temporary and dilapidated housing have yielded positive results.
Over the years, more than 1.7 million houses have been built or renovated for the poor and disadvantaged. To date, a nationwide review reveals that there are still approximately 400,000 temporary or dilapidated houses that do not meet the "three solid" standards (solid walls, solid roof, solid roof) or are of poor quality.
Following the movement launched by the Prime Minister, we are currently in a 450-day intensive campaign to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses by 2025, with the goal of completing all three major tasks: providing housing support for disadvantaged war veterans (approximately 200,000 houses remaining) using state budget funds; providing housing support for the poor and ethnic minorities under national target programs (approximately 88,000 houses remaining); and eliminating temporary and dilapidated houses for people outside the two support groups above (including 153,881 temporary and dilapidated houses of poor and near-poor households with a minimum budget of approximately 6,500 billion VND).
To accomplish this task, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung proposed three new methods and approaches. First, the entire country must uphold the spirit of self-reliance and self-improvement in localities; second, allow for the economical use of recurrent expenditures in 2024 from local and central budgets, along with socialized resources, to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses; and third, mobilize the joint efforts and solidarity of the entire political system, business community, and people, spreading widely throughout society and the community for this program.
Launching the program, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that the Party and State have implemented many mechanisms and policies on housing, but a review of localities still reveals that hundreds of thousands of households are living in temporary or dilapidated houses, especially in remote areas, ethnic minority regions, border areas, and islands.
Our people have a saying, "settling down leads to prosperity," and the Party and State have a policy of not sacrificing social justice and progress, not sacrificing social welfare and the environment in pursuit of mere economic growth.
Following the Party's guidelines, on April 13, 2024, in Da Bac district, Hoa Binh province, the Prime Minister, together with the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, launched the nationwide emulation movement "The whole country joins hands to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses" in 2025; this movement has been actively and effectively supported and participated in by the entire political system, the people, and businesses.
On behalf of the Party and State leaders, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh acknowledged, highly appreciated, and sincerely thanked the noble gestures of the people, businesses, ministries, sectors, and localities that have contributed to this emulation movement with profound humanitarian significance.
The Prime Minister emphasized that from now until the end of 2025, there are only about 450 days left to achieve the goal of eliminating all temporary and dilapidated houses; the workload is enormous, requiring us to be even more determined, to make even greater efforts, to strive even harder, and to achieve even more effectiveness.
Therefore, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called on the entire political system, compatriots, comrades, and the business community nationwide to continue to join hands, work together, and accelerate and make breakthroughs even more with national solidarity and compassion, the spirit of "mutual support and love," "helping those who have what they can, contributing resources, contributing labor, contributing what they have, contributing what they have," implementing the Party's major policy of ensuring that no one is left behind in the era of national progress, in order to quickly achieve the goal of eliminating all temporary and dilapidated houses for the people, especially those in remote areas, ethnic minority regions, border areas, and islands.
At the same time, the Prime Minister noted that during the implementation process, it is necessary to strengthen inspection and supervision to prevent corruption and negative practices from occurring in the execution of this movement.
At the program, in the presence of Party and State leaders; the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, representatives from provinces, cities, agencies, and businesses handed over financial support to localities to eliminate all temporary and dilapidated houses for the people.
As of the end of the "Shelter for My Compatriots" support program, the organizing committee reported receiving 5,932 billion VND in donations from localities, organizations, and businesses; of which 3,287 billion VND was mobilized within the program and 61 localities had mobilized 2,645 billion VND.
By the end of 2022, Nghe An province had over 16,000 poor households and households with particularly difficult circumstances living in dilapidated, makeshift houses, in need of the collective support and assistance of the entire society. Despite the best efforts of the Party committees, government, and Fatherland Front at all levels, on average, the province only managed to mobilize support for the construction and repair of about 1,500 houses each year.
In response to this situation, at the beginning of 2023, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee organized, launched, and implemented the Program to mobilize support for building and repairing houses for the poor and those with housing difficulties in the period 2023-2025.
At the launching ceremony, 115 agencies, organizations, and individuals registered to support the project, contributing to 10,131 houses over a three-year period (from 2023 to 2025) with a total registered support amount exceeding 517 billion VND, averaging 50 million VND per house.
To mobilize the entire political system, especially to promote a proactive spirit, maximize internal resources, and thoroughly leverage external resources, the Provincial Party Standing Committee issued a Directive, established a Steering Committee; formed a working group, and issued plans and guidelines for localities, agencies, and units to implement.
To date, the province has mobilized 149 organizations and individuals to register their support, contributing a total of 12,100 houses, equivalent to 614.78 billion VND. As of August 31, 2024, the province has mobilized resources to implement the program through various means, with a total amount equivalent to over 727.64 billion VND. Sponsors have directly supported people with 99.5 billion VND. Other resources contributed by the people themselves, including assistance from relatives and neighbors, are estimated at over 245.27 billion VND.
As of August 31, 2024, the entire province had supported the construction and repair of 9,772 houses, including 3,580 prefabricated houses, 4,754 newly built houses, and 1,438 repaired houses, achieving 62% of the plan for the 2023-2025 period.