Vietnam’s post-reform housing policies: Social rhetoric, market imperatives and informality

This chapter provides a critical analysis of housing policies in Vietnam with a focus on the relationship between the state and the market and special attention to policies of housing provision for vulnerable groups and the social consequences of such policies. It highlights the contradiction and complexity of a dual system of formal and informal housing in which the socialist goals of a political legacy intertwine with market imperatives introduced by the neoliberal doctrines. The chapter is based on analysis of policy documents, housing statistics and international donor reports, as well as media coverage on housing issues, with a focus on affordable housing. The informal sector was the main provider of affordable housing for the urban poor. The co-existence of a huge informal housing sector alongside the formal housing sector adds the dimension of informality in the state-society relation, illuminating the role of the “society” in the transformation process.