People can buy social housing more easily

3 criteria are relaxed

Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Van Sinh said that regarding social housing, the draft Housing Law has amended many contents in the direction of reducing procedures in determining the subjects of social housing purchase. It also added housing policies for workers in industrial parks, housing policies for armed forces, etc.

This draft adjusts 3 criteria: residence, income and housing conditions. In particular, the residence criterion is removed. Because home buyers who are Vietnamese citizens only need to meet the income and housing conditions to be eligible to buy social housing.

Income conditions are also being considered in the direction of expansion, raising them to a higher income level than the current one. Specifically, regarding housing conditions, previously only those who had a house but less than 10 m2 were eligible to buy social housing, now it can be considered to increase to 15 m2/person. This condition is similar to some countries in the region.

In addition, the draft law also mentions policies to reform administrative procedures, especially regarding investment, land allocation, selection of investors, and determination of selling prices and rental prices for social housing.

In the coming time, people will have the opportunity to access social housing.

Currently, the draft Law on Housing (amended) is being drafted by the Ministry of Construction. It is expected to be approved at the upcoming 6th session. The draft law has 8 policy groups, including an important group of policies on social housing. The group of policies on social housing, which the Government has submitted and the National Assembly has agreed upon, will take effect immediately after the draft law is approved by the National Assembly .

Barriers to buying social housing will be removed

The Ministry of Construction's consideration of loosening some criteria for social housing in the draft revised Housing Law this time is based on many recommendations from social housing enterprises and home buyers.

Mr. Nguyen Van Khoi - Chairman of Vietnam Real Estate Association shared that the 3 criteria being considered for reduction will create favorable conditions for people who are in need of buying social housing. Previously, the Housing Law had specifically regulated the groups of subjects and conditions for buying social housing. Decrees, circulars as well as documents have provided detailed guidance on each condition of the subject such as housing, income, place of residence... but determining the right subjects to buy, rent, or rent-purchase social housing still faces many difficulties.

For example, when receiving the application, the investor does not have enough information to check the income and housing conditions. Therefore, when submitting the list to the management agency, it is returned. This poses a risk to the investor when completing the transfer and recording revenue from selling social housing in these cases.

In addition, current regulations on beneficiaries of social housing policies are still quite limited, with strict conditions and standards; completing documents and papers proving eligibility to buy social housing is still complicated and difficult. This is one of the reasons why social housing is not attractive to people.

In an interview with reporters, Dr. Lawyer Doan Van Binh, Chairman of CEO Group, suggested that the biggest problem in land allocation is the regulation requiring commercial housing investment projects in urban areas of type III or higher to reserve 20% of land for social housing construction. Applying a general requirement for all commercial housing projects to reserve land for social housing without basing on local housing development programs and plans; land use planning, urban planning; regional economic and geographical conditions can lead to a situation where all projects must reserve land for social housing but do not use it, wasting land resources, causing loss of urban aesthetics and being one of the causes of rising housing prices. In fact, many investors have "evaded" legal regulations on reserving land to implement social housing investment projects.

“In reality, the difficulty in creating land funds for social housing projects is the biggest obstacle for people because the lack of land will increase the selling price. I hope that this amendment to the Law will be a breakthrough in helping businesses easily access land, to attract businesses to participate in auctions for social housing. When the supply of social housing increases, it will increase the opportunity for low-income people to buy houses,” Mr. Binh emphasized.

At the session explaining the opinions of National Assembly deputies on the draft revised Housing Law on July 31, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha raised the requirement: The Housing Law needs to create favorable conditions for individuals and households to have housing depending on their income levels and ability to pay. In particular, clarify the policy on social housing development. Review and supplement regulations to overcome shortcomings, limitations, and delays compared to the practice of housing management.

Source