Removing the 'bottleneck' in social housing development

Immediately after the meeting on rescuing the real estate market on March 16, the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister's Working Group, 63 provinces and cities, the banking system and the real estate business community focused on solving difficulties in social housing (NOXH), worker housing (NOCN), and housing for low-income people (TNT).

Shortage of supply

According to the report on the implementation results of the Project "Investing in the construction of at least 1 million social housing apartments for TNT and industrial park workers in the period of 2021 - 2030" of the Ministry of Construction, immediately after the Project was approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 338/QD-TTg dated April 3, 2023, the Government and the Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Construction, ministries, branches and localities to focus on implementing the Project based on their authority.

In Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated January 5, 2024 on "Main tasks and solutions to implement the Socio-Economic Development Plan and State Budget Estimates for 2024", the Government set a target of completing 130,000 social housing apartments nationwide in 2024.

By the end of March 2024, the whole country had planned 1,249 land plots, with a scale of 8,390 hectares for social housing, an increase of 5,031 hectares compared to 2020. The results of implementing social housing projects up to this point, the whole country has 499 social housing projects implemented, with a scale of more than 411,250 units. Of which, 71 projects, 37,868 units have been completed; 127 projects, 107,896 units have been started; 301 projects have been approved for investment policy, 265,486 units.

With the strong direction of the Government, the Prime Minister and the participation of ministries, branches and localities, the development of social housing has been actively attracted investment and promptly started in many localities. In particular, the credit package of 120,000 billion VND for social housing loans has been committed by banks to provide credit to 15 projects, with an amount of about 7,000 billion VND, of which 8 projects in 7 localities have been disbursed with a capital of about 640 billion VND.

However, according to the Ministry of Construction, besides some localities that have done well and accelerated the progress of projects according to the Project, there are still many localities that, although have a great demand for social housing due to the concentration of many industrial parks and a large number of workers and laborers, but the investment in building social housing is still limited compared to the set target.

The reasons pointed out by the Ministry of Construction are: The mechanism and policies for developing social housing and industrial housing have not met practical needs and have not been supplemented or amended in a timely manner in the initial phase of the Project; the procedures for investment in construction, determining conditions for purchase, hire-purchase, and rental of social housing are still complicated and lengthy; the preferential policies for investors of social housing and industrial housing projects that have been issued are not attractive enough...

In addition, the Housing Law 2023, the Real Estate Business Law 2023, the Land Law 2024... have been passed with many mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties, reduce administrative procedures, increase incentives for investors, farmers, and armed forces to enjoy additional policies on workers' accommodation in industrial parks, reduce regulations and conditions for enjoying social housing... but it is not until January 1, 2025 that the new laws will take effect.

On the other hand, many localities have not paid attention to developing social housing, industrial housing, and industrial park workers, have not included social housing and industrial park development targets in the 5-year and annual socio-economic development plans, and have not clearly identified land funds for social housing development in urban and industrial park planning, in addition to the 20% social housing land fund in commercial housing projects.

In addition, many localities have not been determined and proactive in implementing the assigned tasks in the Project; have not issued a Plan to implement the Project to ensure the completion of the goals. Notably, some key localities, although having a large demand for social housing, have limited investment in social housing compared to the goals of the Project by 2025...

Urgent solutions for social housing development

According to statistics from the Ministry of Construction, many localities have had projects approved for investment in the recent period, but local authorities have not paid attention to and created favorable conditions for selecting project investors to implement construction investment. The credit capital of 120,000 billion according to Resolution No. 33/NQ-CP of the Government has not been effectively disbursed, due to the limited announcement of the list of social housing eligible for loans...

Therefore, to complete the goal, the Ministry of Construction recommends that ministries, branches and localities coordinate and promptly implement the tasks assigned by the Prime Minister in the Project. In particular, it is necessary to focus on developing decrees guiding the Housing Law, the Real Estate Business Law, the Land Law, the Law on Credit Institutions, amending tax laws, etc. to synchronize legal regulations; focus on implementing the tasks assigned in the Project to remove difficulties and obstacles in investment procedures, exemption of land use fees, planning, land allocation, development of workers' accommodation, etc.

Localities need to urgently establish, revise and supplement local housing development programs and plans, clarifying social housing goals for migrant workers, industrial park workers, and the people's armed forces; review and supplement urban planning and industrial park planning, ensuring sufficient land for social housing development...

At the recent Conference on Resolving Difficulties and Promoting the Development of Social Housing organized by the Government, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that the policy and guidelines of our Party and State are to build the country based on three main pillars: socialist democracy, socialist rule-of-law state and socialist-oriented market economy, in which housing is one of the three pillars of social security, ensuring "settling down before starting a career". Therefore, the Government has paid attention to developing social housing, approving the Project "Investing in the construction of at least 1 million social housing units for TNT and industrial park workers in the period of 2021 - 2030".

The State Bank has actively directed the implementation of a credit package of 120,000 billion VND for social housing loans. Ministries, sectors and localities have actively implemented it, however, the results have not been as expected. In the spirit of looking straight at the truth, the Prime Minister requested ministries, sectors and localities to focus on evaluating the results, limitations, objective and subjective causes; propose solutions to remove difficulties, promote social housing development. In particular, review policies, institutions; methods; planning, land allocation and finance for social housing development.

According to Tin Tuc Newspaper

Source