Help the poor in Hai Duong settle down

Storm No. 3 has left behind significant damage, affecting the economy and lives of many people in Hai Duong, including many houses with roofs blown off or damaged. Up to now, localities in the province have implemented many housing support activities for affected families, typically in the districts of Kim Thanh, Thanh Ha, Tu Ky, Hai Duong City, Chi Linh, etc.

According to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Hai Duong City, the unit has advised the City People's Committee to allocate funds to support 9 families whose houses were damaged by storm No. 3, including 5 poor and near-poor households, the rest are disadvantaged families, with a level of 20 million VND/household.

Storm No. 3 caused a large tree to fall on the house of Mr. Vu Van Sung (76 years old), a poor household in Lo Cuong residential area, Tu Minh ward (Hai Duong city), causing the entire tiled roof of the house to collapse. According to Mr. Vu Van Phong, Mr. Sung's nephew, this house is also a house of gratitude that has been built with support from various authorities and organizations since 2005.

Mr. Sung lives alone, is almost blind, and all activities are very difficult. His life depends mainly on monthly social assistance, and he is constantly sick so he does not have any reserve funds.

“Without the support of the authorities, my uncle would not have known how to get the funds to repair the house. In addition to the above amount, the support of 1.1 million VND from the village organizations and a relative who shot the roof for free was enough. My uncle was very excited,” said Mr. Phong.

The authorities of Nam Sach district have also just coordinated to start building a "great solidarity" house for Mrs. Tran Thi Hoanh in Tong Pho village, Thanh Quang commune. Mrs. Hoanh is a particularly poor household in the commune. The family has 2 mothers and children, Mrs. Hoanh is weak, her son is severely disabled, often has to go to the hospital for treatment, all activities depend on his mother. Every day, Mrs. Hoanh sells vegetables to make ends meet and save money for her son's medical treatment. The old house is small, narrow, and dilapidated, and every time it rains, the whole house leaks.

The recent storm No. 3 put the wall of Mrs. Hoanh's house at risk of collapsing at any time. With the encouragement and support of the Nam Sach District Relief Mobilization Committee, and the support of the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam - Hai Duong branch, Mrs. Hoanh has the funds to build a new house.

The newly built house is expected to be 56 square meters wide, with a total cost of nearly 200 million VND. Of which, the Nam Sach District Relief Mobilization Committee supported 60 million VND, the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development - Hai Duong branch supported 50 million VND, and Yen Thanh Company Limited supported 10,000 bricks.

“Without the support of the government and businesses, I would not know how to build a new house to make my life less miserable. I am very grateful for the help of the authorities and sponsors,” Ms. Hoanh confided.

According to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Hai Duong does not have any districts on the list of poor districts approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 353/QD-TTg dated March 15, 2022, so there are no poor or near-poor households receiving housing support under the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction. However, through emulation movements, in 2024, Hai Duong mobilized more than 7 billion VND in housing support for poor and near-poor households (it is expected to mobilize about 3 billion VND more).

According to the implementation data of the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the 2021-2024 period in Hai Duong province, from 2021 to June 2024, the "For the Poor" Fund Mobilization Committee at all levels in the province coordinated with localities to support the construction and repair of 483 "great solidarity" houses for poor households with a total support amount of over 15 billion VND. Organizations in the province mobilized social resources to build and repair 65 houses for poor and near-poor households with a budget of over 2.55 billion VND.

To continue to provide practical housing support for poor and near-poor households in Hai Duong, the Provincial People's Committee recently sent an official dispatch to the Ministry of Construction to report on the number of people with revolutionary contributions, martyrs' relatives; poor households according to the multidimensional poverty standard for the period 2021-2025 in rural areas needing housing support in the province to synthesize and report to the Prime Minister.

Accordingly, Hai Duong has 981 poor households according to the multidimensional poverty standard for the period 2021-2025 in rural areas in need of housing support, including 612 households in need of building new houses and 369 households in need of house repairs.