The problem of excess resettlement housing and lack of social housing

Surplus of resettlement housing, shortage of social housing

The Ho Chi Minh City Housing Development Program for the period 2021 - 2030 has been approved by the City People's Council, the target for public housing in the period 2021 - 2025 is expected to develop about 1,400m2 of public housing floor space.

The budget for social housing development is expected to be about VND 3,770 billion for the 2021-2025 period and about VND 8,640 billion for the 2026-2030 period, to invest in the construction of state-owned social housing for rent and lease-purchase (including social housing for workers).

Real Estate - Ho Chi Minh City: The problem of excess resettlement housing and lack of social housing — *Vinh Loc B resettlement area has been in use for nearly 10 years, but many apartment blocks are still vacant because many households do not agree to live there.*

However, currently the number of social housing projects is still seriously lacking, but in Ho Chi Minh City there is a surplus of about 14,000 resettlement houses in Binh Chanh district, Thu Duc city (old district 9 and district 2).

Among them is Binh Khanh resettlement area (Thu Duc city) with more than 3,700 apartments on a land area of 38 hectares, part of the program of 12,500 resettlement apartments in Thu Thiem completed since 2015.

For nearly 10 years, because residents have not moved in, the resettlement apartment complex has been auctioned off four times but there have been almost no buyers because the prices are too high.

After a long period of abandonment and degradation, Ho Chi Minh City has to spend about 70 billion VND each year to maintain and hire managers for the resettlement apartment complex.

Not only in Thu Duc city, this situation also occurs in Binh Chanh district, Vinh Loc B resettlement area was built with a total cost of more than 1,000 billion VND, to arrange resettlement for households whose land was cleared in projects in the area since 2012.

The project is invested by the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Upgrading Project Construction Investment Management Board with a scale of 30.9 hectares, has built 45 apartment blocks, 5 floors high, a total of 1,939 apartments, 529 land plots. Although it has been put into use for nearly 10 years, many apartment blocks are still vacant because many households do not agree to live there.

Real estate - Ho Chi Minh City: The problem of excess resettlement housing and lack of social housing (Image 2). — *Many houses are vacant, the paint on the outside is peeling, the walls are discolored, and covered with moss, making them look very old.*

According to Nguoi Dua Tin , the roads in the resettlement area are relatively complete and convenient to travel. There are high schools, kindergartens, and water stations around the area, but there are still not many people living there.

Many of the houses were abandoned, with peeling paint on the outside, faded walls, and moss growing on them, looking very old. The ground floor of the buildings had closed doors and were covered in dust.

Find a way to solve the problem of supply and demand

Explaining the reason why the number of social housing in Ho Chi Minh City is very low, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction said that the existing resettlement housing fund is a very important premise for the city to implement key projects. In cases where there is no available source of housing and resettlement land, it will take 2-3 years to create and the cost is very high.

Real estate - Ho Chi Minh City: The problem of excess resettlement housing and lack of social housing (Figure 3). — *The supply of social housing projects in Ho Chi Minh City is always in a state of insufficient supply to meet demand.*

Regarding the need for social housing, in the housing development plan for each phase, Ho Chi Minh City has surveyed and set a goal to develop affordable real estate projects with suitable apartment sizes.

Specifically, according to the Housing Development Plan for the period 2021 - 2025, Ho Chi Minh City will have 195 projects implemented (148 commercial housing projects, 47 social housing projects); 317 housing development project locations (283 locations expected to develop commercial housing, 34 locations expected to develop social housing, workers' accommodation).

However, from 2021 to June 2023, only 43 housing projects were completed (42 commercial housing projects and 1 social housing project), accounting for 22% of the total number of housing projects under implementation. Therefore, the supply of social housing projects in Ho Chi Minh City is always in a state of supply not meeting demand.

Real estate - Ho Chi Minh City: The problem of excess resettlement housing and lack of social housing (Figure 4). — Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee plans to continue the 5th auction of more than 3,700 apartments in Binh Khanh resettlement area.

In addition, the Government also allowed Ho Chi Minh City to auction the Binh Khanh resettlement area (Thu Duc city) for investors to convert into commercial housing, but because the city wanted to sell more than 3,700 apartments at the same time, the starting price was too high, leading to 4 unsuccessful auctions because there were no buyers.

While waiting for instructions from central ministries and branches on converting resettlement houses into social housing, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee plans to continue the 5th auction of more than 3,700 apartments in the Binh Khanh resettlement area. Repair and upgrade part of the Vinh Loc B resettlement area (Binh Chanh district) to build resettlement houses for some households affected by the Ring Road 3 project.

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