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If at the end of 2023, many lodging houses had empty rooms, but now they have been gradually filled up. For many years now, seeing the lives of workers facing difficulties in terms of employment and income, landlords have not increased room rents, but have proactively reduced rents, given gifts, and shared difficulties with workers.

Hope workers have stable jobs

Nguyen Thi Diem Trinh's lodging house in My Phuoc ward, Ben Cat town has nearly 50 rooms. By November 2023, this lodging house had nearly 10 rooms vacant. According to Ms. Trinh, the reason was that some workers did not have jobs, or had jobs but were not allowed to work overtime, only received a basic salary of more than 5 million VND each month. With a low income, having to pay rent for a room and raise their children for a long time, they could not survive. Some people applied for a job in another company and had to move to a room near their workplace. Some people went back to their hometown to waited until Tet then returned to the company to wait for orders.

Bui Thi Mai, the owner of a lodging house in Phu Hoa ward, Thu Dau Mot city, decreases room rent and gives gifts to lodgers on Lunar New Year 2024. She said she will not increase room rent and will continue to support tenants to the best of her ability, especially for people having difficult cases.

Ms. Trinh shared that since the Covid-19 pandemic, her family's room rent has remained the same at about 1 million VND/room, allowing 3-4 people to stay together or a small family including husband, wife and two children. Many people were in so much trouble that they still owed two-month rent money, but she cancelled the debts even though they promised to come back and pay it back. According to Ms. Trinh, lodging house owners like her actually face many difficulties. Like her family, they had to borrow money from the bank to build this boarding house, along with taxes, electricity, water bills...

“Looking at low-income workers with no money and many worries, I also feel sad. And it's not just me, the same goes for grocery sellers, restaurants, and cafes around this area. Everyone is happy together with the employees and also sad when workers face difficulties. More than a week after Tet, many landlords here were happy to hear that companies had orders again, and many new workers from other provinces and cities came back to apply for jobs.

Nguyen Thi Diem Trinh's lodging house now has only 4 empty rooms. In particular, the number of new workers looking for rooms is quite large. Nguyen Tuan Duong, a worker from Soc Trang province, who has moved here, said: “I just got a new job at MIDEA Vietnam Refrigeration Company so I came here to rent a room. In general, this area still has many rooms to rent, close to my company, without having to travel a lot. I realize that many companies around this area are still recruiting workers, so in the future it will be more difficult to find rooms. Especially with clean, beautiful, friendly accommodations, good security and relatively cheap rent."

Le Thi Thanh Long, Binh An ward, Di An city also had the same joy at the beginning of the year when her family's lodging house with more than 20 rooms for rent, now only has 2 rooms left. Ms. Long said: “Before Tet, my lodging house had 5 empty rooms, but it will probably run out in a few days. I'm very happy, at the beginning of the year, seeing that workers have jobs and no one complains is fine. To be honest, my family's income mainly comes from room rent, and if there were no tenant, it would be very difficult for us. Hopefully in 2024, all workers will have more stable jobs and better income."

For many years, the rent has not been increased

Many other lodging houses in Tan Uyen City, Thuan An City, and Thu Dau Mot City have become vibrant again as more workers have come to apply for jobs and rent rooms. Although some lodging houses in Khanh Binh ward of Tan Uyen city have many empty rooms, many businesses are recruiting large numbers of workers at the beginning of the year, up to thousands of workers, the landlords are no longer worried as much as before.

For example, Timberland Company (Khanh Binh ward), specializing in sofa manufacturing, is recruiting thousands of unskilled workers, no experience needed. The average income offered is from 10 - 15 million VND/month along with other care regimes... Nguyen Duong Phuoc has 70 rooms in this area and said: “There were times when it was very difficult, the number of vacant rooms was up to 30 rooms, but if you run a lodging house business, you have to accept it. At the beginning of this year, we saw new people coming to rent rooms increasing day by day, so my husband and I are very happy."

Most landlords in the area understand difficulties of tenants, thereby they provide sympathy, support, and sharing. Although at the beginning of this year, many enterprises in the area had production orders back and recruited more workers, but the landlords said they would not increase the rent. Thai Kim Anh, owner of a 50-room lodigng house in Hiep Thanh ward of Thu Dau Mot city, said: “The global economy will still have many difficulties, so the production and business situation is not really stable, although it is better than before. The lives of workers have really gone through a difficult period, hence we have to sympathize and share with them. I just hope that workers have stable jobs, I'm happy that I don't have empty rooms."

Last year, Ms. Anh's family spent a lot of money to upgrade the entire lodging house, such as tiling the walls and re-roofing spaciously, but still kept the room rental price from 800,000 to 1 million VND/room like 4 years ago. Since the peak of the Covid-19, Ms. Anh has many times reduced room rent or offered rent-free rooms to workers. Every Tet, she organizes a year-end party, gives Tet gifts, and encourages workers...

Reported by Quang Tam - Translated by Ngoc Huynh