Social rental housing 'difficult to promote efficiency'

Using budget capital to build social housing requires too many resources, people mainly want to own houses, so the option of building social housing for rent is not feasible, according to the National Assembly Standing Committee.

On October 26, the National Assembly discussed in the hall a number of controversial contents of the draft Law on Housing (amended).

The draft law submitted by the Government at the 5th session proposed social housing projects built with state capital for sale, hire-purchase, and lease. Some delegates suggested that priority policies should be given to social housing for rent and hire-purchase to meet the needs and economic conditions of the majority of low-income workers. The Government then proposed to adjust this content in the direction of social housing using public investment capital for rent only.

In its report on the acceptance of the draft law, the National Assembly Standing Committee said that the practical implementation of the law shows that the regulations on social housing for rent are not effective due to the Vietnamese people's desire to own a house. In fact, the social housing fund for rent in most projects is not filled, leading to a waste of resources.

In addition, social housing invested by the State for rent only requires huge resources for construction and management. This has been assessed by the Ministry of Construction as beyond the current capacity of the State budget.

Dinh Hoa social housing area, Dinh Hoa ward (Thu Dau Mot city, Binh Duong), July 2023. Photo: Quynh Tran — Dinh Hoa social housing area, Dinh Hoa ward (Thu Dau Mot city, Binh Duong), July 2023. Photo: *Quynh Tran*

The National Assembly Standing Committee believes that this proposal has not yet had an impact assessment and is not consistent with the regulations on the sale of state-owned social housing in the draft Law.

To harmonize people's needs and state resources, the National Assembly Standing Committee proposed to revise the draft in the direction that public-funded social housing projects can only be rented or rented out. Social housing projects funded by other state capital sources can be sold, rented out or rented out.

Regulations in this direction ensure the Government's flexible authority in directing the implementation of social housing development policies based on the ability to allocate state resources in each period. In case state resources are balanced, it can focus on developing social housing for rent to improve people's access to social housing.

According to the agenda, on the morning of October 26, the National Assembly listened to the presentation and examined the adjustment of some contents of the National Assembly Resolution on the Feasibility Study Report of the Land Acquisition, Compensation, Support and Resettlement Project of Long Thanh International Airport. Afterwards, the delegates discussed in the hall some contents with different opinions of the draft Law on Water Resources (amended).

In the afternoon, the National Assembly listened to the report explaining, accepting and revising the draft Law on Housing (amended) and discussed this content in the hall.

Son Ha

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