The issue of social housing development and real estate market management was discussed at a meeting with the National Assembly’s monitoring delegation, with Hanoi’s Vice Chairman of the Municipal People’s Committee, Duong Duc Tuan, offering his insights.
Vice Chairman Duong Duc Tuan reporting at the meeting. Photo: VGP
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According to the government’s plan to develop at least one million social housing units, Hanoi is responsible for completing 18,700 apartments by 2025. So far, the city has seen the completion of 30 projects, providing approximately 1.66 million square meters of floor space. Additionally, there are 58 ongoing projects offering about 4 million square meters of floor space and 60,480 apartments. Hanoi also has 83 land plots totaling about 43.58 hectares across 48 commercial housing and urban area projects, which are required to allocate 20-25% of their land funds for social housing development.
Mr. Tuan mentioned the addition of 15 new large-scale land areas for concentrated social housing projects with comprehensive technical and social infrastructure. This includes 2-3 areas designated for worker housing near industrial zones, each expected to yield around 2,000 units.
Recently, the city approved investment policies for four independent social housing area projects, covering approximately one million square meters of floor space. This sets the foundation for organizing bidding to select investors as per regulations.
However, Vice Chairman Tuan assessed that the land planning for social housing construction falls short of meeting the city’s substantial demand. The architectural planning indicators for social housing in concentrated social housing areas are significantly lower than the project scale due to population size constraints.
“The implementation of projects to build worker housing is slow. The mechanism and policies for social housing projects are not truly attractive. The procedure for selecting investors for projects to construct social housing in the form of bidding takes a lot of time…”, Mr. Tuan added.
Given these challenges and obstacles regarding bidding conditions for investor selection, the city has requested that central ministries and sectors provide specific guidance on implementing transitions for projects that have been approved by the City People’s Committee for investor bidding based on the 1/5,000 urban planning subdivision.
Hanoi also proposed issuing separate regulations to streamline the procedures, processes, and time required for selecting investors through bidding for social housing development projects. Additionally, they suggested introducing mechanisms and policies to incentivize social housing investors and provide policy support for those in need of social housing, including policies to promote the development of social housing for rent, funded by the state budget.
The architectural planning indicators for this segment are significantly lower than the project scale due to population constraints. On top of that, the existing incentive mechanisms and policies are not attractive enough for businesses and citizens to participate, and the procedure for selecting investors through bidding is time-consuming.
A recommendation was made to stop distinguishing between social and commercial housing.
 Chairman of the Municipal People’s Committee Tran Sy Thanh at the meeting
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During the meeting, Mr. Tran Sy Thanh, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, suggested that there should be only one type of housing, without distinguishing between social and commercial housing, to ensure equal access to quality and services for all citizens.
Minister of Construction, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nghi, responded by emphasizing that while the quality of social housing must meet the general standards for apartment buildings set by the Ministry of Construction, “the price should be lower”. Mr. Nghi also assured that the Ministry had taken note of Hanoi’s challenges and obstacles in real estate market management and social housing development and would include them in their report to the monitoring delegation.
 Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hai, concluding the meeting
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Concluding the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hai, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, requested that Hanoi urgently finalize the two planning tasks for the capital and report to the authorized agencies to address the challenges. He emphasized the importance of this sector in promoting growth, ensuring social security, and providing social housing for low-income earners.
Tung Phong (Translated by AI)
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