Strengthening support for housing and production land for ethnic minorities.

Finding solutions to address the shortage of residential and agricultural land for ethnic minority communities in Phu Tho province. Photo: baophutho.

To create favorable conditions for ethnic minority communities to improve and stabilize their lives and escape poverty, in 2024, Phu Tho province will accelerate the implementation of projects supporting land, housing, production land, and clean water under the National Target Program 1719. According to Phu Tho province's plan, the total investment capital from the State budget for the Program in the 2021-2025 period is nearly 1,177 billion VND, of which over 331 billion VND has been disbursed so far. Therefore, to address the shortage of housing and production land for poor ethnic minority households and poor households living in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, Phu Tho province has issued a plan and urgently directed specialized departments and localities to actively implement it. Along with this, Phu Tho province also prioritizes support for poor households and disadvantaged ethnic minority groups. Specifically, focusing on particularly disadvantaged communes, villages, and hamlets, the plan involves reviewing and compiling statistics on the housing and production land needs of ethnic minorities and people in mountainous areas, ensuring that the assistance reaches the correct target groups and complies with regulations.

According to Mr. Pham Tu, Vice Chairman of the Thanh Son District People's Committee, to implement the program to support housing, land for residence, and production land for poor ethnic minority people, the district has intensified the dissemination of information about the purpose, meaning, and objectives of the National Target Program 1719; regularly reviewed the actual needs of eligible beneficiaries in localities to supplement and implement housing, land for residence, and production land support policies in a timely manner... in order to ensure that the State's support programs and policies are effective and bring direct rights and benefits to ethnic minority and mountainous people. In 2024, according to a review, the entire district had 201 households without residential land. Of these, 24 households had no residential land, and 177 households had land but lacked land use right certificates.

For the 24 households without land, a subsidy of 44 million VND from the central and provincial budgets was offered; however, these households refused to accept it because even with the 44 million VND, they could not buy land. For the remaining 177 households, the District People's Committee will allocate local budget funds to convert agricultural land to residential land, issue land use rights certificates, and ownership certificates for houses and other assets attached to the land. To date, Thanh Son district has not been able to implement this due to the lack of allocated district budget funds and the absence of specific guidelines on the support categories.

Similarly, in Tan Son district, many communes within the district that are eligible to receive the project have actively implemented its contents. Currently, 83% of the district's population consists of ethnic minorities living in 17 communes, primarily the Muong, Dao, and Mong ethnic groups. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Hue, Head of the District's Ethnic Affairs Department, stated that based on regulations, plans, and guidelines from the Central and Provincial governments, Tan Son district has issued directives to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Department of Ethnic Affairs to coordinate in reviewing and determining the average amount of residential and agricultural land in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for each type of land as stipulated. To implement this, the People's Committees of the communes are conducting reviews, compiling statistics, and submitting preliminary reports on households lacking residential and agricultural land for Project 1 of the Program. Simultaneously, the district is strengthening information and communication efforts to ensure that people understand the policies, eligible beneficiaries, and support levels as stipulated.

To implement ethnic policies, the Ethnic Affairs Committee of Phu Tho province has issued guidelines for reviewing the target groups, priorities, content, and principles of supporting housing and production land for ethnic minorities, creating favorable conditions for localities to implement projects in accordance with regulations. Through the review, approximately 2,500 households in the province are in need of housing and production land support during the 2021-2025 period. Simultaneously, the Provincial Ethnic Affairs Committee has advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue a decision regulating housing support under Project 1 of the National Target Program 1719 with local budget allocation. Notably, the Provincial Ethnic Affairs Committee has also concretized a closed-loop implementation process, decentralizing implementation from residential areas to district-level People's Committees.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/day-manh-ho-tro-dat-o-dat-san-xuat-cho-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-10292904.html