Social housing project in Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: QUANG DINH
General Secretary and President To Lam recently issued a directive on the development of social housing in the new context: "Rental housing must be identified as a strategic pillar, especially in large cities, industrial zones, labor migration areas, and areas where housing prices far exceed the income level of the people."
The directives of the General Secretary and the President are entirely justified because social housing for rent truly reflects the nature of this model.
The reason is that it targets low-income groups who often struggle to meet basic living needs such as food, clothing, their children's education, and healthcare, making it difficult for them to save enough money to buy a house.
With incomes barely enough to live on, people often struggle to even repay the principal on their home loans, let alone the interest.
On the other hand, low income levels make it difficult for people to demonstrate their ability to repay loans, leading to banks not disbursing the loans.
Therefore, the actual implementation of social housing projects in recent years has revealed a policy "mismatch": those who are eligible to buy social housing lack the financial means to do so, while those who have the money to buy are not eligible.
Therefore, the directive from the General Secretary and President that "rental housing must be identified as a strategic pillar" will help to adjust the approach of social housing policy, shifting towards addressing "housing" (through policies developing rental housing) rather than approaching it from the perspective of addressing "housing" (developing housing for sale to people for ownership).
This approach also accurately reflects the spirit of the Constitution, which considers the right to "housing" or "residence" as a constitutional right of the people.
Articles 22 and 59 of the 2013 Constitution affirm: "Citizens have the right to a legal place of residence," and "The State has policies to develop housing and create conditions for everyone to have a place to live."
Based on the experience of several countries, the state plays a crucial role in diversifying housing types through various solutions, including policies that encourage the private sector to develop housing and direct state involvement in investing in, creating, and providing housing types that the private sector is not keen on, such as low-income housing and rental housing.
Therefore, developing social housing for rent in the current context requires direct involvement from the State (this is also a common characteristic of important sectors that need to be implemented to address social welfare needs but are unattractive in terms of profit, leading to a lack of interest from the private sector).
Resolution 201/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly and Decree 302/2025/ND-CP of the Government have authorized the establishment of the "National Housing Fund," a non-budgetary state financial fund for investing in and creating social housing for rent.
If the government needs to attract private sector investment in building social housing for rent, it requires breakthrough financial policies, especially credit packages with low interest rates and long repayment periods to alleviate concerns about large capital investments with slow returns.
For example, the government could provide a loan package covering 80% of the total project investment, with a loan term of over 20 years and a preferential interest rate of less than 3% per year.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cach-tiep-can-moi-ve-nha-o-xa-hoi-20260521083414664.htm
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