Proposing many breakthrough policies to develop social housing

The Ministry of Construction has just sent the Ministry of Justice for appraisal a draft proposal to the Government proposing the development of a draft Resolution of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of social housing. This Resolution is expected to be implemented nationwide.

The Ministry of Construction proposed establishing a National Social Housing Development Fund. Photo: Doan Thanh

According to the Ministry of Construction, 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", through synthesizing reports from localities, in the period from 2021 to present, nationwide, 657 social housing projects have been implemented with a scale of 597,152 apartments.

• Proposal to remove many "barriers" for social housing

Of which, 103 projects have been completed with a scale of 66,755 apartments; 140 projects have started construction with a scale of 124,352 apartments; 414 projects have been approved for investment with a scale of 406,045 apartments.

Thus, with 66,755 completed apartments, up to now only about 15.6% of the Project's target by 2025 has been achieved.

Although some important results have been achieved, the development of social housing still has some shortcomings and limitations such as: There is no financial fund to support financial resources for localities and enterprises to implement social housing projects.

In addition, currently, some social housing projects are still facing difficulties in allocating funds for site clearance, investment in technical infrastructure and social infrastructure; support for social housing projects for lease and hire purchase; and support for interest rates on loans without requiring collateral.

Based on the above legal provisions and practices, it is necessary to establish a "National Social Housing Development Fund" from the State Budget and other legal capital sources to resolve the above problems, while creating a sustainable, long-term source of capital for social housing development.

According to the draft, The National Social Housing Development Fund is a non-state budgetary financial fund established by the Government . The financial sources for the Fund are: State budget; revenue from payment of money equivalent to 20% of the land fund invested in building technical infrastructure systems; revenue from selling and leasing public housing and other legal sources.

Expenditure contents include: Expenditure to support compensation for site clearance; expenditure to invest in technical infrastructure systems, social infrastructure, and land fund creation; expenditure to compensate for preferential credit interest rates; expenditure to invest in and support investment in social housing construction; expenditure to manage, operate, renovate, and repair social housing belonging to public assets; operating expenses and other expenses.

Proposal to pilot the assignment of investment without bidding

According to the Ministry of Construction, the procedure for selecting investors for social housing construction investment projects is still complicated and time-consuming.

Currently, the selection of investors for social housing construction investment projects is carried out according to the provisions of Article 84 of the 2023 Housing Law, with the following forms: Assigning investors of commercial housing construction investment projects to directly invest in social housing construction (for 20% land fund in commercial housing construction investment projects). Approval of investment policy and approval of investors as investors when having land use rights. Approval of investors as investors when there is only 1 interested investor according to the provisions of the law on bidding. Bidding in cases where there are 2 or more interested investors.

According to Article 84 of the Housing Law 2023, in case there are 2 or more interested investors, the selection of investors must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the law on bidding.

The Ministry of Construction said that according to the law, social housing projects are exempted from land use fees, the state regulates the investor's standard profit rate, the state approves construction costs, approves appraisal of selling prices and approves the subjects eligible to buy social housing.

Therefore, bidding only prolongs the project implementation time without bringing economic and social efficiency, and even wastes land resources due to slow implementation.

During the process of organizing conferences on removing difficulties and promoting the real estate market, the Ministry of Construction has recorded many reflections and recommendations from large enterprises in the field of social housing development.

According to the business, the current regulations on procedures and time to develop a social housing project are quite large. It is estimated that in the case of a social housing project with an approved construction plan, a housing development program and plan, and being included in the local land use list and plan, the implementation time in sequence from the step of approving the investment policy to selecting and signing the project contract with the investor is about 300 days.

Therefore, to speed up the progress of investment in social housing construction and complete the goal of the Project of 1 million social housing apartments, the Ministry of Construction proposed to pilot the assignment of investors without going through bidding to select investors as proposed in the draft Resolution.

Accordingly, it is expected that the implementation of assigning investors without bidding will reduce the time for administrative procedures (reducing about 200 to 241 days, equivalent to 70% - 100% of the time for bidding to select investors) compared to current regulations.

In order to shorten the implementation time of social housing investment projects, the Ministry of Construction proposed to eliminate the steps of preparing, appraising, and approving detailed planning tasks; eliminate the procedure for appraising the feasibility study report by the specialized construction agency and integrate the content of appraising the feasibility study report into the construction design appraisal procedure after the basic design or granting of construction permits.

To solve the housing needs of workers and laborers in industrial parks, it is necessary to have a policy allowing enterprises, cooperatives, and cooperative unions in industrial parks to rent social housing from investors so that their workers can live and work with peace of mind.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/de-xuat-nhieu-chinh-sach-dot-pha-de-phat-trien-nha-o-xa-hoi-196250331115659062.htm