Solving social housing, especially housing for workers, is the province's responsibility. Long An identified as one of the key tasks in socio-economic development.
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High demand for housing
According to the Long An Economic Zone Management Board, the province currently has 36 established industrial parks (IPs) with a total planned area of over 9.693 hectares. Of these, 26 IPs are eligible to receive investment with a planned area of over 5.982 hectares, with an occupancy rate of 68%; 10 IPs have been approved for investment, and are implementing procedures, site clearance, and infrastructure investment in IPs with an area of over 2.908 hectares.
According to Decision No. 686/QD-TTg dated June 13, 2023 of Prime minister Goverment On approving the Long An Provincial Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050, the planning of the whole Long An province for the period 2021 - 2030 has 51 industrial parks with a total planning area of 12.433 hectares.
To date, there are 1.685 enterprises operating in the industrial parks in Long An province, with more than 199.000 employees. According to the Long An Economic Zone Management Board, with the annual labor increase trend, it is expected that the number of workers and laborers working in the industrial parks in the province by 2025 will be more than 201.500 people. Of which, about 110.800 are workers in the province, and about 90.700 are workers from other localities. It is expected that the housing demand for workers and laborers in the industrial parks by 2025 will be more than 82.120 units.
The Department of Construction of Long An province is completing the Project on Social Housing Development for Workers for the period up to 2025, with a vision to 2030, striving to invest in completing 71.250 units to ensure social housing needs in the province and ensure the targets assigned by the Government in Decision No. 338/QD-TTg dated April 3, 2023.
Based on the occupancy rate and the clean land area available for lease of industrial parks in the period of 2026 - 2030, the expected number of workers and laborers working in industrial parks by 2030 is 224.100 people. Of which, workers in the province are about 123.250 people, workers from other localities are about 100.850 people. It is expected that the demand for housing for workers and laborers in industrial parks by 2030 is about 91.320 units.
Currently, the housing demand of workers working in Long An Industrial Parks is very high. About 25% of workers in the province and 60% of workers outside the province have housing needs. However, housing for workers in the province is still limited, not meeting the demand, workers have to rent houses near the Industrial Parks to live.
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| Long Hau workers' accommodation area in Long Hau Industrial Park (Long An province) Photo: Long Hau Industrial Park |
Developing social housing is a key task.
Solving social housing, especially housing for workers, is of interest to Long An province and is identified as one of the key tasks in the province's socio-economic development.
The Housing Development Program of Long An province for the period 2020 - 2025, with a vision to 2030, was approved by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 2962/QD-UBND dated August 24, 2020, adjusted and supplemented in Decision No. 9607/QD-UBND dated October 17, 2022.
On that basis, the 5-year Housing Development Plan (2021-2025 period) in Long An province sets the target: in the 2021-2025 period, housing development for social subjects is 6.395.176 m2 of floor space, equivalent to about 159.879 units. Of which, social housing for low-income people is 3.513.617 m2 of floor space, equivalent to about 87.840 units; social housing for workers is 2.881.559 m2 of floor space, equivalent to about 72.039 units.
The estimated land fund demand for social housing development in the 2021-2025 period is about 1.962 hectares (not including 20% of social housing land fund according to legal regulations).
Investment capital for social housing construction mainly comes from socialized capital sources of enterprises, preferential credit organizations, the Bank for Social Policies, etc., or from provincial budget capital used to support part of the investment costs for technical infrastructure construction within the fence.
In 2024 alone, according to the Housing Development Plan of Long An Province in 2024 (issued with Decision No. 12267/QD-UBND, dated December 25, 2023 of the Long An Provincial People's Committee), the whole province needs to develop housing for social subjects with an area of 2.119.584 m2 of floor space, equivalent to about 53.105 units. Of which, social housing for low-income people is 1.159.795 m2 of floor space, equivalent to about 29.052 units; social housing for workers is 959.789 m2 of floor space, equivalent to about 24.053 units.
Based on housing development targets in 2024 and land use planning of Long An province for the period 2021 - 2030, the estimated land fund demand for social housing development is about 550,14 hectares (not including 20% of social housing land fund according to legal regulations).
The estimated capital for housing development in 2024 is more than VND96.669 billion. Of which, the investment capital for housing for low-income people is nearly VND11.598 billion; the investment capital for housing for workers is about VND7.486 billion.
Recently, Long An province has focused on mobilizing resources to speed up the construction of social housing for low-income people and industrial park workers.
Long An Provincial People's Committee has approved the investment policy for 28 social housing and worker housing projects in the province. Of these, 7 projects have been completed and put into operation with a total land area of about 5,41 hectares; the total completed floor area is 76.638 m2 with 1.884 apartments, accommodating about 8.000 people. Typical examples are Long Hau Industrial Park Workers' Accommodation Area (floor area of 38.230 m2, including 594 apartments, accommodating 1.600 people); Hai Son Industrial Park Workers' Accommodation Area (floor area of 7.332 m2, including 522 apartments, accommodating 1.700 people); Tan Duc Social Housing Area (floor area of 14.361,88 m2, including 458 apartments, accommodating 1.850 people) ...
In addition, there are 21 projects under implementation, with an expected land area of 42,12 hectares, a construction area of approximately 915.963,6 square meters, with 2 units. In 15.526 alone, it is expected that 2024 projects will start construction with a scale of 7 hectares, equivalent to 8,36 units.
In addition, there are 24 social housing projects in the 20% land fund of commercial housing projects with policies, with a scale of 201 hectares and 50.835 units. In the districts, there are also plans for concentrated social housing land funds with 16 projects, a total area of 131,2 hectares and 22.868 units.
Many problems need to be resolved
According to the Department of Construction of Long An province, in general, the implementation of commercial housing and social housing in the province has been carried out according to the annual housing plan. However, the results achieved are still low, not reaching the housing target as planned.
The reason is that the procedures for investment in construction, purchase and sale of social housing are still complicated and lengthy, affecting the attraction of investors. Specifically, although social housing projects are exempted from land use fees, they must also carry out procedures for calculating land use fees to be exempted; the appraisal and determination of subjects eligible to buy social housing are complicated and lengthy... Furthermore, the investor's profit margin is controlled at no more than 10%, so it has not attracted businesses to invest in social housing.
Besides, the provincial budget is still limited, unable to balance the allocation of capital to support investment in technical infrastructure of the project, affecting the project implementation.
In addition, the province’s lack of suitable land to call for investment in social housing projects also affects the attraction of investment in the project. Currently, many investors are interested in proposing Long An to support suitable land for social housing investment, but the province does not have land to call for investment, mainly because investors find and propose on their own, so it is not attractive to investors.
Another difficulty is that the construction and guidance on the use of investment capital for social housing development are not yet specific and clear.
Clearly identifying the causes, Long An province is proactively seeking solutions, proposing policy solutions, and gradually overcoming them to achieve the goal of ensuring the need for social housing in the locality.
Sources: https://baodautu.vn/batdongsan/long-an-phan-dau-dam-bao-nhu-cau-ve-nha-o-xa-hoi-d226681.html
