| Abstract | This study analyses the priority and affordability of low-income households towards resettlement with a focus on people living on and/or along canals in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. District 8 is an urbanizing district that lies in the south of Ho Chi Minh City, the biggest city of Vietnam. It comprises more than 10, 185 dwelling units on and/or along its canal systems, accounting for approximately 25% of its total housing. In an effort to promote the economic and social development of the City and the whole Southern region of the country, the success of the resettlement of people who currently locate on and/or along the inner City's canals is regarded as essential by the municipal and local authorities, particularly for the case of District 8 - the imp01tant gate of the City towards Mekong Delta provinces. Our results provide evidence to support the two hypotheses of the study. Firstly, the low income and poor living conditions of people who settle on and/or along canals have negative impacts on their affordability to new living places, but promote their willingness to leave the present settlement. The situation is also reflected in the households' priorities and preferences towards their new settlements. Secondly, although the policies of the authorities on the resettlement aim to support and enhance the households' affordability to new housing, the expectations and priorities of the involved households are not adequately reflected in the plans which are now being offered to them. The study also provides some recommendations. First of all, the resettlement program of the City should take all the households that are affected by the program as its beneficiaries. Secondly, to be the ones that are directly affected by the resettlement, the target households, and particularly their cmTent situations as well as their priorities and affordability to new settlement, should be subject to a careful and thorough study before any actions are taken. The third suggestion relates to the participation of housing development banks and other financial institutions in the resettlement program. These institutions should play a more active role by not only providing more flexible and favorable terms of payment but also by being trustful sources of consultation on matters that often come up for the target households (such as information on the real estate market, the building material market, etc.). The study also reveals an issue regarding the supply of new accommodation. Various types of accommodation should be provided in an eff01t to meet the priorities and affordability of different households. Finally, the employment of the affected households arises as an important issue, especially for those to be relocated in new established districts of the City. Suggestions to the employment issue include (1) identification of employment structure of the population to measure their accessibility to ne·w jobs as well as the likelihood to keep the current ones; (2) providing vocational training, if necessary; and (3) privilege to be offered job in industrial zones to the population resettled in new residential areas adjacent to industrial zones. |