According to Mr. Ha Quang Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Housing and Real Estate Market Management (Ministry of Construction), the above information was shared at the seminar “Unveiling the Bottlenecks in Social Housing Development” organized by Tien Phong newspaper on April 17.
Mr. Hung said that the National Assembly has issued laws on housing, real estate business, Land Law, etc., which took effect from January 1, 2025. However, the Government recently directed ministries and sectors to be determined to develop legal documents soon and submit them to the National Assembly to bring these laws into effect from July 1, 2024 – six months earlier.
“The Ministry of Construction has completed the draft decree on social housing development, which will be sent to the Ministry of Justice for review, finalization, and submission for comments from Government members in early May,” said Mr. Hung.
This decree includes many new contents related to land funds, investment procedures, preferential policies, buying and selling procedures, as well as conditions for purchasing social housing.
The seminar “Unveiling the Bottlenecks in Social Housing Development” on April 17. Photo: TP |
“Regarding the purchasing subjects, it has been reduced to only 2 conditions: housing and income; for renting subjects, all conditions have been omitted, only requiring them to belong to the groups of subjects specifically stipulated by law. In the future, in addition to direct lottery, online lottery may be conducted, so people do not have to come early to queue for lottery as before,” said Mr. Hung.
Regarding the income condition, the draft decree proposes a new approach: for singles with an income of 15 million VND; households with two spouses and a total income of not more than 30 million VND are eligible to purchase. This income level only needs to be confirmed by the working agency, without going to the tax agency.
Regulations for 10 days, businesses lose 143 days
Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association, said that the city builds 3,000 apartments each year, while the demand in Ho Chi Minh City is around 100,000 apartments. The target set is that from 2021-2025, the city must have more than 450,000 social housing units; however, currently, there are only over 40,000 units, so there is a need to catch up.
“In 2022-2023, Ho Chi Minh City started 8 projects, but they could not be implemented due to legal obstacles; of which, 70% were commercial real estate projects, 100% were social housing projects, except for cases where the government bid to select investors,” Mr. Chau informed.
According to Mr. Chau, the most significant obstacle is the approval of investment policies. Most businesses purchase land to build social housing, and the mechanism allows them to increase the construction density and land use coefficient by 50%. This leads to an increase in the population规模, which is not in line with the zoning plan, so the investment policy is not approved.
Udic Eco Tower social housing project is delayed and is currently just an empty lot surrounded by a fence. Photo: Hong Khanh |
Mr. Tran Manh Trung – Director of Ha Dinh Social Housing Project Management Unit – Udic Eco Tower 214 Nguyen Xien (Hanoi), said that the project was approved for investment policy in 2020 and then adjusted to 2022. The reason for the adjustment, instead of a scale of 12 floors, the company requested to adjust it to 25 floors, as well as increase the number of apartments and floor area.
Regarding the delay in construction, Mr. Tran Manh Trung explained that it was mainly due to the land fund using 100% of state capital, and the procedures for investment and construction were carried out in accordance with regulations, so the time was extended.
“For example, applying for approval of fire prevention and fighting, design stage, etc., according to regulations, it takes 10 days, but when we do it, it takes about 143 days due to two times of receiving comments on the standards in fire prevention and fighting,” Mr. Trung shared.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Duong, Chairman of Hoa Binh Group, said that without land, it is impossible to build social housing. But to create a land fund, the first thing that the provincial and city People’s Committees must do is to have land cleared.
“Building social housing must be suitable; it cannot be that the people in need live in Hanoi, but the project is built in Hoai Duc or Soc Son, then no one will live there,” emphasized Mr. Duong.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Duong, Chairman of Hoa Binh Group. Photo: TP |
Mr. Duong recounted that in the past, he worked on a project in Hoang Quoc Viet, and the license was issued within 2 months, but now, after 2 years, the investment policy has not been completed. All these things make it difficult for businesses.
In Hoang Mai (Hanoi), the company has two land plots that have been requested to be converted to social housing. One plot has been granted an investment policy since April 24, 2023, but the procedures have not been completed yet. The other project has not yet been granted an investment policy by the Hanoi City People’s Committee.
To remove the difficulties, according to Mr. Duong, the most important thing is to strictly implement the Housing Law and publicize the land fund. If there is a land fund, businesses can advance money to clear the land.
Regarding Mr. Nguyen Huu Duong’s proposal, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Van Sinh said that immediately after the seminar, the Ministry will request the Hanoi City People’s Committee to consider and resolve this issue soon because if businesses have land funds and land use rights in accordance with the plan, they have been arranged for land use planning, according to current housing laws, they are simultaneously recognized as project investors.
“In the past, the Ministry of Construction has worked with the Hanoi City People’s Committee. Hanoi still has a lot of work to do, especially the direction and guidance of the City People’s Committee and departments and sectors in publicizing the land fund. In fact, Hanoi has allocated a lot of land funds for social housing development, but the implementation is still limited,” said the Deputy Minister.
Hong Khanh
