Hai Phong takes the lead in developing social housing

This is the general opinion of delegates attending the Workshop "Hai Phong - A bright spot in social housing development" held this morning (August 16) in Hai Phong City.

Bright spot in social housing development

In fact, in recent times, the Government, Ministries and Central agencies have all shared the same opinion about the systematic investment, resource mobilization and direction of the City in the construction and development of social housing in Hai Phong.

The workshop was attended by leaders of the Ministry of Construction, Hai Phong City People's Committee and Real Estate Associations. Photo: Thanh Son

According to the Project to build 1 million social housing units approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 338, Hai Phong is assigned the target of completing 33,500 social housing units from now until 2030. Of which, 15,400 units will be completed in the 2021-2025 period; 18,100 units will be completed in the 2026-2030 period.

From 2022 to present, Hai Phong has started and is constructing 9 social housing projects with a total of over 15,000 units (currently 5 projects have products eligible for sale on the market with a total of 2,755 units; 1 worker housing project with 300 units has been put into operation); 16 projects have selected investors and are completing procedures to start construction (about 18,900 units); 6 projects have policies and are selecting investors (about 2,700 units).

Notable projects include: Social housing area at 384 Le Thanh Tong, with a scale of 1,294 units, 2 29-storey buildings have been topped out; Social housing area at General Warehouse 3 Lac Vien, with a scale of 4,448 units, under construction, preparing to top out 10/10 buildings by the end of 2024; Social housing project under Trang Due Urban Service and Worker Housing Project, with a scale of 2,538 units, 3 buildings are under construction; Social housing construction project (phase 1) in Trang Cat ward, Dinh Vu - Cat Hai Economic Zone, with a scale of 4,004 units, under construction. In addition, Hai Phong has oriented, planned, and arranged land funds for about 42 locations with nearly 500 hectares to implement social housing projects.

Social Housing Project at Warehouse 3 Lac Vien, Hai Phong City

Mr. Nguyen Duc Tho, Vice Chairman of Hai Phong City People's Committee, said that with the determination to exceed the target of 33,500 social housing units and complete before 2030, ahead of the Prime Minister's plan, Hai Phong has proactively linked social housing investment with the socio-economic development plan and considered this one of the key tasks of the Party Committee and the Government.

The Executive Committee of the Hai Phong City Party Committee issued Resolution No. 09 dated November 13, 2023 on developing social housing in the area until 2030, which provided specific and key solutions to implement social housing development.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Tho, Vice Chairman of Hai Phong City People's Committee, committed to developing social housing with 3 criteria: Good location - Good quality - Good price. Photo: Thanh Son

Accordingly, the Resolution clearly stated the view that the city's social housing development must achieve 3 good points: "Good location - Good quality - Good price". Therefore, the projects being implemented and planned to be implemented all have prime locations in the urban center or attached to industrial parks, with synchronous planning and design. All social housing projects are appraised, inspected, and accepted by state agencies according to regulations, ensuring fire prevention and fighting standards, and quality approaching that of commercial apartments. Regarding the selling price of social housing in Hai Phong, there are many segments, ranging from 14 million to about 19.5 million/1m2 of floor (according to Official Dispatch No. 3951/SXD-QLN of the Hai Phong Department of Construction recently announcing information on selling prices, conditions, and procedures for purchasing social housing), people can choose according to their ability to pay.

Based on the existing policy, the City will prioritize suitable land funds with good locations, favorable infrastructure, and close to urban areas. At the same time, dialogue will be conducted and policies will be developed to attract businesses to use non-budgetary capital to invest in the construction and business of social housing, and commitment to support procedures for businesses.

With this approach, Hai Phong only has to allocate about 1,774 billion VND from the budget to compensate and clear land for 5,700 households in old apartment buildings in about 3-4 years. Instead of supporting housing rental prices, the city provides one-time support so that people have financial resources to buy social housing and have the right to own housing.

New laws are important basis for promoting social housing projects

Journalist Phung Cong Suong, Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong Newspaper - the unit coordinating with Hai Phong City to organize the Workshop, said: Up to now, when the Land Law 2024, Housing Law 2023 and Real Estate Business Law 2023 officially take effect from August 1, 2024, along with guiding documents under the law, it can be affirmed that the current policies to support social housing and workers' housing in industrial parks have created a relatively complete legal corridor, ensuring support and encouragement for businesses to participate in developing social housing and workers' housing.

At the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh, Deputy Minister of Construction shared: "The workshop taking place at this time is very meaningful, because the laws on Land, Housing, Real Estate Business, and Credit Institutions, which are effective, are a very important basis for promoting housing projects and the real estate market, including social housing".

Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Van Sinh shared at the Workshop. Photo: Thanh Son

Specifically, the Party and State's policies on housing, especially housing for low-income people, have been institutionalized. Second, the laws have overcome some overlapping and inconsistent contradictions. Third, decentralization in project implementation has been enhanced. Fourth, administrative procedures have been reformed in project implementation. Fifth, regulations are clearer, especially with many innovations in project investment procedures, creating conditions for localities to approve and enterprises to implement.

Along with that, some policies on social housing development have been focused on and adjusted to ensure clarity. In particular, the People's Committees of localities have been assigned to allocate land funds based on demand to ensure sufficient land for social housing development. Flexibility in allocating land funds in commercial projects for social housing development, which can be exchanged and paid for. The Housing Law clearly defines the investment stages and procedures for social housing investment. Regulations on selecting investors are very clear, consistent, and consistent with the Bidding Law, opening up many policies in the direction of both approving policies and recognizing investors.

Policy on incentives for investors, creating more attractive conditions, clearer incentives. Investment in social housing projects is exempted from land use fees, no need to go through land price determination procedures, helping to shorten the procedure by 6 months - 1 year. Conditions for social housing buyers have become simpler. Selling prices and rental prices of social housing have been calculated in the direction of correctly and fully calculating the construction costs of the enterprise.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Brokers Association, affirmed: With the efforts of the Government and ministries, the 3 laws activated from August 1 will have a strong impact on social housing projects. That is, clearly stipulate that the provincial People's Committee must allocate enough land for social housing development according to the approved provincial housing development program and plan. This will overcome the shortage of land for development. Allow project development enterprises to choose to allocate land with built technical infrastructure in the developed commercial housing project or in another area or pay an equivalent amount.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Brokers Association, predicted that the new revised regulations will help solve the current situation of both shortage and unsold housing in the social housing segment, especially in developed provinces and cities with high demand. Photo: Thanh Son

In addition, the new points of the 3 laws also affect people in need of social housing. That is the abolition of regulations on residence conditions. Increasing output for the market when people can participate more easily. The market opens up more opportunities; Increasing the minimum income from 11 million to 15 million/month. Adding 2 more groups of subjects to benefit from social housing support policies compared to the current ones: Poor and near-poor households in urban areas and enterprises, cooperatives, and cooperative unions in industrial parks.

At the same time, the ownership conditions are changed. The law has specified whether houses can be owned or not. There are houses but the average per capita is less than 15 m2. Add the form of developing accommodation for workers and people's armed forces.

“Hai Phong is a typical example of social housing development. I hope the Ministry of Construction will use Hai Phong as a model to draw lessons for other localities. The regulations and procedures are similar, but Hai Phong can do it, so why can’t other localities? This is a lesson to increase the effectiveness of the 1 million social housing project,” Mr. Dinh proposed.

At the workshop, Mr. Ta Van Ha, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Education, highly appreciated Hai Phong's implementation, so that the laws just passed by the National Assembly - allowing to accelerate the implementation of real estate laws 5 months in advance. In particular, Hai Phong is the first locality to complete the target, a bright spot in the development of social housing. Obviously, to achieve that result, we have removed many mechanisms and many preferential policies to attract investment. The good and effective ways of Hai Phong need to be summarized and evaluated. On the one hand, how will Hai Phong complete the city's social housing target well in the coming time, on the other hand, contributing to spreading to other localities to research, consult, learn, thereby attracting many investors, to have more social housing, meeting the urgent needs of the people.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/batdongsan/hai-phong-di-dau-ve-phat-trien-nha-o-xa-hoi-d222575.html