Can Surplus Office Spaces Post-Merger be Transformed into Social Housing?

On May 29, the National Assembly passed a resolution on several mechanisms and policies to promote the development of social housing – a policy with many new and important contents to realize the dream of social housing for the people.

Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Van Sinh said that, in the past time, the development of social housing has always been concerned by the Government and the National Assembly, and recently the Secretariat has also directed to strengthen the leadership of the Party in the development of social housing.

According to reports from localities, there are currently 1,309 projects with a scale of 9,733 hectares of land for social housing development. Up to now, after a period of launching, there are 679 social housing projects nationwide, with a scale of 62,305 units, of which 108 projects have been completed, 155 projects have been started, and 416 projects have been approved in principle. investment. From the initial stage of insignificance, up to now, there have been more than 600,000 units invested and built, which is a great effort.

At present, the Ministry of Construction is urging and removing obstacles, in which 20 localities are quite active, many places, and many projects are being implemented drastically. Up to this point, 71,000 units have been completed compared to the target of 100,000 units this year; 30,000 units are being implemented.

Some localities that are actively deploying social housing projects include Hai Phong, Da Nang, Hue, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Thai Binh, and Hai Duong. These are localities that have almost completed, even Nghe An; some localities need to actively deploy to complete such as Thai Nguyen, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, Binh Duong, and Long An…

However, Mr. Ha Quang Hung, Deputy Director of the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Department, Ministry of Construction, said that according to Decision 444/QD-TTg, by 2025, the whole country strives to complete 100,000 social housing units. Up to now, according to local reports, it is possible to complete 71,200 units, reaching about 71%.

In the past time, Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Sinh chaired a working delegation of the Ministry of Construction to inspect and urge 20 localities. These 20 localities have a target of more than 60,000 social housing units, with a capacity of 52,200 units (87%).

Although the development of social housing has achieved positive results, it has not yet met the demand, especially in large cities like Hanoi. “So, what is the cause, is the direction not coming, or is there a lack of land, mechanism…?”, Mr. Hung raised the question.

According to Mr. Hung, there are 6 main reasons why localities have not met the social housing targets assigned by the Prime Minister:

First, up to now, the law has been perfected, and the implementation depends on the attention of the local government. Many localities have not paid attention, although there are enough directions and orientations from the Politburo, the resolutions of the Central Committee, the directions of the Prime Minister, and Scheme 338. Currently, only about 22 localities have included social housing development targets in socio-economic development targets.

Second, the 2023 Housing Law will take effect from January 1, 2025, so it will take time to carry out administrative procedures. A real estate project, even if it is fast, will take 2-3 years to get results. Legal regulations have been untied, but administrative procedures are still carried out according to related procedures, and implementing social housing projects is even more complicated than commercial housing.

Third, the quality of land funds, whether the location is convenient and has infrastructure, whether it needs to be cleared or not. If the locality arranges it in an inconvenient place, there will be no investors interested.

Fourth, how do localities base on the Law on Housing 2023 to cut administrative procedures and give incentives to investors?

Fifth, investors have not focused on implementing their commitments, leading to an unstable supply. Investors are listening to the market and absorbing the market?

Sixth, there is no financial institution for the development of social housing for rent.

Mr. Le Van Binh, Deputy Director of the Land Management Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, proposed that in the near future, when building a two-level government, redundant offices after the merger can be prioritized for social housing. In large localities, it is possible to arrange in the outskirts, but not too far away.

“Localities should review and arrange land funds reasonably for social housing needs. If the planning is not good, it will easily lead to the situation of building but not being able to sell. There are places with a lot of applications when selling, but there are also places where there are no sales for many years. It must be arranged in convenient places to have demand,” said Mr. Binh.

According to Mr. Binh, localities arrange land funds, but enterprises should also survey the location, land price, and identify the needs of residents in the project implementation area and in neighboring areas, thereby grasping the number of customers and their needs. Depending on the land fund, it is also necessary to be flexible in building apartments or separate houses. Along with that, develop diverse forms, should develop many types of social housing for rent for many subjects and maintain a long-term fund to serve the needs of living, working, and working.