There will soon be a special mechanism to "break the ice" on social housing.

This is expected to be the "key" to removing bottlenecks in planning, land, and investment procedures - major barriers that prevent this market from taking off, despite its huge potential.

Construction site of a social housing project in Dong Anh commune. *Photo: Nguyen Quang*

Many difficulties arise

The country is implementing 692 social housing projects with a total scale of more than 633,000 units. To date, the number of completed, started, and approved investment projects has reached 59.6% of the target set in the Government 's Social Housing Development Project to 2030.

Many localities such as Hai Phong, Hue, Tuyen Quang, Quang Ninh, Nghe An... are expected to complete or exceed the assigned targets in 2025. However, some localities still have no projects started or invested in construction, including: Cao Bang , Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Ha Tinh.

One of the reasons comes from the conflict between many legal regulations, causing the projects to be delayed. In particular, the Urban Planning Law, Land Law, Housing Law 2023, Investment Law... all have inconsistent provisions. Many projects, although having policies, cannot start due to the same "bottlenecks" such as: Not being suitable for planning; not being updated in the housing development program; planning adjustment procedures take many years; investment licensing takes a long time; the method of calculating land use fees for the commercial part has many different interpretations... Thereby, creating additional procedures, appraisal time and costs for businesses participating in the construction of social housing.

According to Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu, although there is Resolution No. 201/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for social housing development, in practice there are still many difficulties arising. Many issues are beyond the Government's usual authority to resolve. Therefore, it is necessary to have a specific resolution to handle legal "bottlenecks".

What are the special benefits?

An important new point in the draft Resolution of the Government on promulgating a special mechanism to handle difficulties and obstacles caused by legal regulations and ordinances in social housing development is to allow approval of investment policies in land plots that do not have or are not suitable for planning, or have not been updated in the local social housing development program.

According to the Ministry of Construction, the agency in charge of drafting the draft, in this case, the Provincial People's Committee assigns the Department of Construction to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Finance, the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the Department of Planning and Architecture (if any), the People's Committee of the commune where the project is located, to review and evaluate the suitability of social housing needs in the area, the ability to meet technical infrastructure and social infrastructure. On that basis, submit to the Provincial People's Committee for decision on land use planning criteria, requirements on space, architecture, and landscape of the land, as a basis for approving the investment policy and assigning the investor.

After the project is approved, the enterprise submits for appraisal the detailed 1/500 planning or the master plan, then implements the project. The Provincial People's Committee is responsible for updating this content into the urban and rural planning and housing development program within 12 months.

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association Le Hoang Chau said: The detailed planning of 1/500 for social housing projects is mandatory, which means that the project is exempt from construction permits, thereby significantly shortening the investment preparation time. Allowing implementation before the general planning is updated does not mean ignoring the planning, but rather speeding up the process, avoiding "waiting for each other" congestion. It is necessary to add a requirement to urgently update the master plan to ensure consistency, avoiding taking advantage of policies in areas with incomplete planning.

Also according to Mr. Le Hoang Chau, regarding the calculation of land use fees for 20% of commercial area in social housing projects, the draft proposal to apply the land price table multiplied by the adjustment coefficient is not appropriate. It is necessary to clarify that the coefficient here is a separate coefficient, not the usual K1 coefficient; because if the K1 coefficient is applied, the land use fees that enterprises must pay will be much higher than before.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the agency appraising the draft, experts believe that shortening the appraisal process and simplifying procedures is a premise for localities to be bolder in allocating land funds, businesses to confidently invest, and low-income people to soon access housing at suitable prices.

Commenting on the draft, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment proposed to clarify the requirement that zoning plans must be updated and integrated into higher-level plans such as provincial plans, general urban and rural plans and related plans, ensuring consistency and synchronization. Because the draft only mentions updating "urban and rural planning" but does not fully mention other types of planning.

Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu said that the agency has asked the Ministry of Construction to clarify the issues raised by experts and ministries, and to have a transparent comparison table of administrative procedures, clearly indicating which contents have been shortened or reduced compared to current regulations. The general spirit is that the Resolution only deals with legal problems beyond the Government's authority and the regulations must be clear to avoid exploitation.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/sap-co-co-che-dac-biet-pha-bang-nha-o-xa-hoi-724553.html