From foreigners living in social housing in Bac Giang and the story of managing this type of housing

However, in recent days, the press has reported that a number of social housing buildings in Bac Giang and Bac Ninh have many foreigners living there. The incident has caused public outrage, because in reality, there are still too many domestic workers who have to rent accommodation in unsafe conditions.

Social housing for... the rich?

According to current statistics, the country has about 3.78 million workers directly working in industrial parks and export processing zones; of which about 1.8 million workers have housing needs. According to the assessment of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, housing is the most urgent need for workers. In reality, there are still a large number of workers, especially workers in industrial parks and export processing zones, who do not have housing.

Proposing the Government to conduct a comprehensive inspection of social housing development. Photo: baochinhphu.vn

According to a survey by the trade union, over 60% of workers are renting houses built by local people that lack amenities and do not ensure security and safety. While the demand for housing for workers is very high, with low salaries and limited financial savings, owning a house worth billions of dong is very difficult for most workers.

Sharing about this issue, Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor - Mr. Ngo Duy Hieu expressed concern about the social consequences when housing prices are still soaring. He warned that when housing prices increase abnormally, rental prices will also increase, making the lives of workers even more difficult.

Housing for domestic workers is still difficult, but according to press reports, some social housing buildings in Bac Giang and Bac Ninh have gradually formed a foreign community. According to information from Lao Dong Newspaper, the situation of foreigners living in the two social housing areas of Van Trung and Noi Hoang (Bac Giang) has been happening since 2021. Similarly, at the social housing project, the supermarket selling electronics and household appliances, and groceries in Pho Moi, Que Vo town, Bac Ninh province, although the handover has not been long, there are still many foreigners living there. The average rental price is 7 - 8 million VND/apartment.

Meanwhile, according to the provisions of Clause 7, Article 2 of the 2023 Housing Law: Social housing is housing with State support for beneficiaries of housing support policies according to the provisions of this Law.

Subjects eligible for social housing support policies under Article 76 of the 2023 Housing Law include: People with revolutionary contributions; poor and near-poor households, low-income people; workers and laborers working at enterprises, cooperatives, and cooperative unions inside and outside industrial parks; officers, professional soldiers, non-commissioned officers of the people's armed forces, police workers, civil servants, defense workers and officials serving in the army...

Thus, the beneficiaries of social housing support policies under the 2023 Housing Law do not include foreign workers working in Vietnam.

According to regulations, foreigners allowed to enter Vietnam are only allowed to own houses through the form of purchasing, hire-purchasing, receiving gifts, or inheriting commercial houses including apartments and individual houses in housing construction investment projects, except for areas ensuring national defense and security according to Government regulations.

To bring social housing to the right people in need

From the case of foreigners living in social housing in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang, many people have asked: Does this situation happen in other localities but has not been discovered? How should this type of housing be managed so that social housing policies can truly benefit low-income people?

In fact, in recent times, the management of social housing has not been strict, leading to the situation where rich people compete to buy social housing or rich people are the owners of social housing. Economic expert Dr. Vu Dinh Anh had to exclaim: That is a sad reality. Social housing - a product that the Party and State have given many preferential mechanisms and policies to low-income people in urban areas and workers and laborers in urban areas, but when walking around many social housing projects, it is full of cars owned by residents, even in many projects, residents own luxury cars.

At the 38th session of the National Assembly Standing Committee giving opinions on the Government's report on the results of the implementation of the 2024 socio-economic development plan; the projected 2025 socio-economic development plan, which took place recently, it was also stated that the current situation of social housing is that people in need cannot buy due to complicated procedures and speculation, with a huge price difference between the selling price registered by the investor with the State and the actual selling price. At the same time, the subjects buying, selling, and renting social housing are not workers, laborers, or people with real needs for this type of housing.

Therefore, at the meeting, the Economic Committee proposed that the Government conduct a comprehensive inspection of social housing development in recent years to find effective solutions; and study strong measures against violations of social housing policies and laws.

According to reports from ministries, sectors and localities, the housing demand of workers is still very large, however, the ownership of the majority of low-income people in urban areas is very difficult, because their income is too low or unstable, so they cannot afford to pay a large amount of money to buy a house even if they enjoy preferential mechanisms. In addition, because the supply cannot meet the demand, it has led to a situation where the rich compete to buy social housing and then sell it for profit.

In order for social housing policies to truly benefit low-income people, many opinions say that it is necessary to tighten the criteria for beneficiaries of social housing policies, otherwise it will create "loopholes" to take advantage of the humane policies of the Party and State.

In addition, there should be policies to encourage economic sectors to participate in investing in building social housing. According to reports from relevant ministries and branches, many regulations on procedures, processes, appraisal and approval of social housing projects do not have a unified process, so implementation is still confusing, delayed and prolonged. Incentives for building social housing are not enough to encourage economic sectors to participate in investing in building social housing; procedures for buying, renting, and leasing social housing go through many stages of verification and approval, encounter many obstacles, and the appraisal time is long...

Source: https://congthuong.vn/tu-viec-nguoi-nuoc-ngoai-o-nha-xa-hoi-tai-bac-giang-va-cau-chuyen-quan-ly-loai-hinh-nha-o-nay-351677.html