The urban agglomeration of the Vietnamese southeast industrial driving force Ho Chi Minh City
(HCMC) has become the most outstanding benefi ciary of the remarkable economic growth and
foreign investments in the Vietnamese economy since the start of a comprehensive economic reform
process in the mid 1980s. The notable development towards the foremost economic centre led to a
high infl ux of migrant workers. In the course of an ongoing expansion process towards a megacity
of tomorrow, the defi cient provision of adequate housing remains one of the most challenging
problems of rural migrants in Greater HCMC. However, a future-oriented sustainable megacity
concept is strongly dependent on the successful integration of migrants into the urban society.
Within this context, the housing market is considered to be a key aspect of comprehensive urban
planning. Hereby, housing microfi nance (HMF) will be presented as an alternative housing fi nance
scheme meeting the demand of a noteworthy number of poor and low-income people. Thereby HMF
can do both: focus on specifi c needs of migrants with respect to their current life situation and
enhance its outreach to a potential target group.