HCMC – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has urged the ministries and agencies to complete mapping out a plan this August to build one million social housing units for workers and low-income people in 2022-2030.
Speaking at a conference to promote social housing for workers and low-income people held in Hanoi on August 1, PM Chinh said that providing housing for people, especially workers and low-income earners, has always been the top priority of the Party and the State.
He praised the efforts to expand nearly 7.8 million square meters of social housing, helping hundreds of thousands of low-income households and workers over the years.
So far, domestic firms have registered almost 1.2 million social housing units.
However, the prime minister said that the pace of implementing policies on social housing has yet to meet expectations. According to him, administrative procedures are halting the construction of social homes.
He noted that although many local authorities have rapidly put the projects into use, there seemed to be a lack of focus on developing social housing for workers in other localities.
Moreover, PM Chinh has called for an improvement in the rental housing sector. He underlined the need to raise hostel standards and improve people’s living conditions.
During the seminar, real estate enterprises also contributed solutions to developing houses for workers. Many firms agreed that time-consuming administrative procedures have posed substantial hurdles to social housing projects.
Pham Thieu Hoa, chairman of Vinhomes, proposed shortening the approval process for social housing projects from 600 days to 90-120 days.
Moreover, companies suggested broadening the range of homebuyers in social apartments and forming working groups to collaborate with the private sector to solve problems.
Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank, or Sacombank, chairman Duong Cong Minh underlined the importance of laying down standards on hostel management, along with public resource mobilization.
Citing data that there are 700,000 accommodations for workers in HCMC, Minh argued that the people themselves are the biggest resource for the development of social housing.
