Social housing development boosts economy: Minister

HÀ NỘI — Social housing development not only improves societal strength but also boosts the economy overall, said Minister of Construction Phạm Hồng Hà, emphasising that Government spending on social housing can lift the real estate industry as a whole.

According to the report of the Department of Housing and Real Estate Market Management under the Ministry of Construction (MoC), by the end of 2017, the average floor area of social housing per person had increased by 0.6sq.m compared to 2016, to reach 23.4sq.m per person. A further 0.19 million sq.m of social housing was added in urban areas, lifting the total area of social housing in urban zones to 3.49 million sq.m. 

In 2013, when the real estate market was in a lull, the stimulation of social housing projects pushed the whole real estate market to recover and develop, Hà said.

When banks offer Government-supported loans to develop social housing, property developers and low-income people buying houses are also able to unlock commercial loans. Hà said that social housing loans of VNĐ1 trillion (US$42.92 million) spurred commercial banks to lend an additional VNĐ16 trillion. Thus, a relatively small amount of Government funds helped strengthen social security and facilitate economic development, the minister explained.

There have been some large-scale social housing projects recently, such as Vigalcera Corporation’s Đặng Xá social housing project, the Đông Ngạc low-income housing project of the Capital Investment and Trading Joint Stock Company, and other projects in Thái Bình, Bắc Ninh and Thanh Hóa by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation.

Localities throughout the country are continuing to implement 207 social housing projects for workers in urban areas and industrial parks; including 135 low-income housing projects with 81,000 apartments and 72 housing projects for workers in industrial parks with about 88,000 apartments.

In addition, some large scale housing projects for workers are being deployed in Bình Dương by the Becamex IDC Corporation with the scale of 64,000 units, and in Đồng Nai by the IDICO Corporation with the scale of 10,000 units.

Minister Hà affirmed that the mechanisms and policies on housing development in general and social housing in particular have basically been completed with many innovative ideas to concretise the guidelines and policies of the Party and the State on housing development.

The increase in average floor area and quality of housing construction reflects the Government’s success in implementing the policies.

According to Nguyễn Trọng Ninh, director of the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Department, the MoC has been coordinating with concerned ministries and sectors to continue researching, completing institutions and supplementing mechanisms to promote the development of social housing. The goal is to ensure strong socio-economic conditions in the country and affordable, comfortable homes for all residents.

In the upcoming time, the goal is to focus on promoting housing for workers at industrial parks and low-income people in urban areas and to supplement policies to encourage the building of social housing projects for lease and commercial houses at low prices. — VNS