Deputy PM demands minimising procedures for social housing projects

Hanoi – The Ministry of Construction (MoC) has been demanded to coordinate with other ministries and sectors to minimise processes and procedures for implementing social housing projects.

This is among the requests Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha made while speaking at a hybrid national conference on May 27 that discussed the draft decree on social housing development and management.

He underlined the importance of building the decrees detailing the realisation of the 2024 Land Law, the 2023 Law on Housing, and the 2023 Law on Real Estate Business, noting that they are related to people, enterprises, as well as State management at both central and local levels.

Given this, ministries, sectors, localities, experts, and business associations should give opinions to perfect the drafts so that once the decrees are issued, no bottlenecks or difficulties will appear during the implementation of the three laws, he added.

Talking about certain issues, Ha asked the MoC to work with the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam to devise a mechanism for mobilising and using resources for social housing development in a consistent manner. In this mechanism, the State should play the main role while funding should also come from investors of commercial housing projects and other social sources so that commercial banks do not have to bear all the financial burden when engaging in the preferential credit package for social housing.

The Deputy PM also assigned the MoC to coordinate with other ministries and sectors to simplify the criteria for recognising beneficiaries of social housing, along with the conditions for renting and buying this type of housing.

The MoC also needs to encourage private businesses to invest in social housing, develop a mechanism for post-construction inspection of such projects, and supplement the regulations on diverting land or projects for resettlement into social housing ones, according to the official.

The MoC reported that the draft decree on social housing development and management consists of seven chapters with 78 articles that give detailed guidance on 18 contents related to the social housing policy in the 2023 Law on Housing.

It inherits the current regulations that are still implemented effectively while institutionalising new and breakthrough policies to address recent obstacles to the assistance for social housing development.

The land area zoned for social housing development has increased by 5,031ha from the 3,359ha reported in 2020, said the Ministry of Construction (MoC).

Amid a gloomy real estate market, experts have pointed out that the affordable housing segment is the key to mobilising capital.

The southern province of Dong Nai targets some 10,000 units of social housing built by 2025, the provincial Department of Construction said at a meeting on March 21.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has emphasised the need to diversify resources for social housing development, from the State, the public, society and financial institutions, in order to provide support for both sellers and buyers.