Lesson 1: The task of the entire political system

Expect to cut at least 30% of procedures

At the recent National Online Conference on removing difficulties and obstacles and promoting the development of social housing, the Prime Minister affirmed that investment in social housing is investment for the development of society and the country; it is an important task of the political system, requiring the participation of the entire political system, people and businesses.

By 2025, Bac Giang province is assigned to complete more than 5.2 thousand social housing apartments. Source: Bac Giang Newspaper

The Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Construction to preside over and review the institutions, processes, and procedures, where the problems are, who will resolve them, how long it will take, when the results will be available, "clearly identify the people, the work, the progress, the responsibilities, and the products"; which agencies must amend the problems in laws, decrees, and circulars and propose them to the Government and submit them to the National Assembly. Emphasizing that preferential sectors must have preferential policies, the Prime Minister requested that this be submitted in March, and at the latest in April.

Along with institutional removal, the Prime Minister requested localities to plan and adjust social housing planning appropriately; proactively allocate land to investors; study the recovery of wasteful projects and land abandoned for many years, handle problems, and assign them to investors; resolve and arrange adequate and quick land funds for investors; and clear land for businesses...

Regarding resource mobilization, the Prime Minister also directed the Ministry of Finance to promptly complete the establishment of a national housing fund in March 2025. At the same time, localities shall approve the list of people eligible to buy, rent, or lease social housing based on population data integrated with standards and criteria; have a mechanism to support site clearance; mobilize social resources, people, public-private partnerships; local budget capital entrusted to the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies... The State Bank shall not include social housing loans in the credit "room" of banks. Regarding the capital mechanism for social housing projects, the Prime Minister requested to study the appropriate profit level (currently 10%), which can be increased, but it is important that the project must be done quickly and promptly, "instead of having to complete procedures that take 3 years, doing it in just 1 or 2 months will help save compliance costs"... In particular, the Prime Minister requested the Government Office to preside over, review, and cut at least 30% of administrative procedures in 2025 so that people in need of social housing do not have to wait too long.

With the above strong policies, low-income people in Bac Giang are very hopeful to soon have a place of their own.

Knots that need to be untied

It is known that Bac Giang currently has about 200,000 workers from outside the province, so the demand for accommodation is large. Implementing the Project "Investing in the construction of at least 1 million social housing apartments for low-income people and industrial park workers in the period of 2021 - 2030" nationwide, Bac Giang is currently focusing on attracting investment in social housing projects. Specifically, from 2021 to present, the province has been implementing 14 social housing projects (11 social housing projects for workers, 3 social housing projects for low-income people). The total number of apartments expected to be formed in 14 projects is about 28,000.

According to the Department of Construction of Bac Giang province, in the period of 2021 - 2024, the whole province completed nearly 4,700 apartments. In 2025 alone, 5 projects were licensed in Bac Giang province. Currently, the authorities are coordinating and speeding up the progress of unfinished projects to complete the set goals, creating conditions for workers to "settle down and work", increasing the attractiveness in attracting investment. At the same time, continue to attract investment in social housing projects in advantageous areas.

Despite many positive changes, in reality, the implementation of social housing projects in localities in general and in Bac Giang in particular still faces many difficulties in the implementation process such as: some projects are difficult to complete on schedule due to many reasons causing insecurity for people, waste for investors and society; the supply of social housing has not met the set goals; problems with procedures and administrative procedures are still major barriers in the implementation of social housing projects... In particular, despite reforms such as abolishing the confirmation of permanent residence and adjusting the income threshold, the process of approving buyers, opening sales and approving prices still faces many difficulties, prolonging the processing time of documents and causing confusion, fear and waste for investors.

Next, the current source of capital for social housing development mainly relies on short-term or medium-term "support packages" from credit institutions, the budget is quite small, not as "main" as the State's seed capital. Meanwhile, because banks also have to balance resources, preferential credit packages can only reduce interest rates to a limited extent, about 1.5 - 2% compared to market interest rates and only for a certain period of time (about 5 years), after which the borrower will have to pay market interest rates. This leads to the low attractiveness of loan packages for home buyers and investors, contributing to limiting the supply of social housing...

Social housing in Bac Giang is not only a solution to the housing shortage problem but also an important part of the urban and social development picture of the province. Grasping and understanding information related to social housing will help people make the right decisions, while at the same time arousing a sense of responsibility and pride in where they live.

Binh Nhi