Cost-Benefit Analysis of Climate-Resilient Housing in Central Vietnam

This study applied a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to quantify the economic benefits of long-term, safety-related measures put in place for housing. The results of the CBA show that the possible returns on investment in storm-resilient housing would be positive and high, which implies that investing in storm-resilient houses can be economically viable. The results also show that the returns would highly depend on the year when a storm event would take place. If an event would happen early in the housing lifetime, positive returns would be gained from the investment. From a private perspective, positive returns would encourage households to invest in housing resilience. Autonomous adaptation has been occurring and has generally been driven by individual households that are likely to result in substantial investments to increase the resilience of houses. The CBA results also show that storm-resilient housing would have high benefit-cost ratios. In order to encourage individual investment in storm-resilient housing, the government should consider offering assistance to households that agree to undertake appropriate climate-resilient housing. This may take the form of technical assistance, direct subsidies, or low-interest loans.