The story behind super-slim houses

Slim houses, which are often less than 1 or 2m in frontal width, come into being after their original full-sized versions are partially demolished to make way for road expansion projects. Their remains are then renovated, and in some cases when space was lacking, expanded upwards.

The capital, Hanoi, and southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City are the cities packed with the most super-thin houses. According to Phap Luat newspaper, the number of super-slim houses in Hanoi has reached more than 664, and that number is estimatedexpected to be even higher in HCMC.

Featured in Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper, the laundry shop T & T on Huynh Van Banh street, Binh Thanh district, which covers less than 1m in frontal width, is always packed with customers. The weirdly small size of the shop and the sense of danger does not stop its customers from coming.

In the same area similarly super-slim, weirdly shaped houses can be easily spotted.

Some are long and flat with one end curved like a ship, while others are shaped like a tiny triangle.

Such flat houses can also be found on the cleared zones of the Tan Son Nhat – Binh Loi – Vanh Dai Ngoai road construction project.

The indoor space of a super-slim house. Photo courtesy of Sai Gon Tiep Thi newspaper.

According to Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper, Tan Son Nhat – Binh Loi street is planned to become one of the city’s artery streets. Therefore, a plot of land on the street front, however small it is, is worth a fortune.

Such houses are not a rare sight in other areas of the city.

Lining the streets along the section of the Tan Hoa – Lo Gom canal which crosses District 6 are a multitude of super-slim houses which have sprouted up at a pace faster than that of the canal renovation project.

Among them is an ‘awe-inspiring’ house that is only around 1m wide and looks just like an upright, two-storey concrete cylinder.

“I’m even too scared to seek shelter from rain in this house, let alone live in it. It can collapse anytime in strong gusts of winds,” Sai Gon Tiep Thi quoted Ngo Thien Tri, a local retired civil servant, as saying.

 H.H, who owns a super-thin house in an alley of Hau Giang street, says that as the Tan Hoa – Lo Gom canal upgrade project got underway, most of her siblings’ houses were cleared entirely, while H. was fortunate enough to have around 13m2 of her house left.

“We first planned to sell this leftover plot to the project but the compensation rate - VND 18.5 million ($US 898) per m2 - was not enough to buy a house from the relocation program, so we had no choice but to keep this house for accommodation,” H. explained.

She added that the relocated area was too far from the city center, and would have made it really difficult for her children to go to school and for her and her husband to make a living, she added.

One of her siblings had his plot entirely cleared for construction and received a compensation sum totaling VND450 million ($US 21,846).

He took his family to neighboring Long An province and bought a quite large plot and built a house for more than VND 500 million ($US 24,273).

H. said her super-slim house can be easily leased for no less than VND 5 million ($US 243) per month, but her family chooses to live there for convenience.

She said with her four family members crammed into the tiny space, she had no choice but to take the risk.

Owners of those super - slim house take advantage of the outdoor space/pavement for daytime living space. Photo courtesy of Sai Gon Tiep Thi newspaper.

Causes and solutions

The emergence of super – slim houses can be attributed to several causes.

As regulated by laws, houses can be cleared to the road marker only. Therefore, the remaining plot, however small it is, still belongs to the house owner.

“HCMC officials have never allowed such houses to be built. Laws on site clearance and compensation stipulate that residents cannot build houses on plots whose sizes are smaller than regulated. They are encouraged to sell these leftover plots to the government or their neighbors, Sai Gon Giai Phong quotes Tran Minh Tho, head of Binh Thanh District’s Site Clearance and Compensation Board as saying.

Meanwhile, as Phap Luat newspaper reported, dozens of flat houses in Binh Tan district’s Binh Hung Hoa B ward were indeed granted permission to be built.

If the local residents voluntarily give up their houses to the government for road expansion projects without receiving compensation, they will be granted permits to build on their leftover plots, explained Vo Thanh Son, chair of the Binh Hung Hoa B Ward’s People’s Committee.

Son also added that allowing these house owners to build flat houses on their remaining plots is reasonable in reconciling both the government’s and locals’ interests. Otherwise, locals will not hand over their lands voluntarily, affecting road expansion project progress.

According to Vu Thanh Hai, vice chief construction inspector of Go Vap district, the Tan Son Nhat – Binh Loi – Vanh Dai Ngoai road expansion project affects approximately 1,200 houses in the district, Phap Luat reported.

Sai Gon Tiep Thi quoted architect Nguyen Tien Thanh, dean of the Architecture Faculty of Binh Duong province’s Thu Dau Mot University, as saying that in order to both ensure architectural harmony and the interests of home owners, “there must be detailed masterplans in the first place, featuring specific regulations on construction density, number of stories, areas, etc.”

After site clearance, the houses that fail to meet construction standards need to be radically dealt with first, before the construction of the roads along the canal is completed, he added.

“These shortcomings may be due to insufficient investment capital, or the ‘ignorance’ of the project implementers and censors,” Thanh concluded.

According to architect Le Quang Ninh, the remains of the houses which measure less than 30m2 should be considered on a case-by-case basis regarding their location, among other factors, Sai Gon Tiep Thi reported.

“If they don’t violate any regulations, their owners should be granted permission to have them rebuilt. This should be treated with flexibility,” Ninh elaborated.

“In my opinion, after clearance, the remains of the houses measuring less than 30m2 should be confiscated by the government to expand public space,” Ninh added.

According to the 2007 directive issued by the Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Committee, those houses which are located at the front of the street and cover less than 15m2, or are less than 3m in frontal width or depth from the road marker, are only eligible for repair or renovation, but not reconstruction.

Plots which cover from 15m2 to less than 36m2 and are at least 3m in frontal width and depth from the road marker are allowed to be renovated based on the current number of stories, or have two new stories built at the maximum and must not be more than 13.4m in height.