Social housing development in Ho Chi Minh City - Part 1: High demand but small supply

Owning a house is a legitimate need of the people. However, in a big city like Ho Chi Minh City, owning a house is not easy, especially for workers with average to low income. In the context of increasing commercial housing prices, developing social housing is considered an urgent solution to ensure social security and stabilize the lives of tens of thousands of workers working and living in Ho Chi Minh City.

Still difficult to access

Faced with the huge demand for social housing, Ho Chi Minh City has also issued many policies and supports to develop this type of housing. However, in reality, not all workers can access and buy social housing, because the supply is limited, the approval process is complicated and the selling price is still far beyond the actual income of low-income workers.

A social housing project in An Lac ward, Ho Chi Minh City.

Ms. Thu Hien, a worker at Tan Binh Industrial Park (Ho Chi Minh City) shared: “I have been working in the textile industry here since I was 18-19 years old, now I have a family with two children, the eldest is 12 years old. Every month we have to spend a lot of money, such as food, school fees for the children, and rent, and we can only save 2-3 million VND. I often watch TV and know that Ho Chi Minh City builds social housing for low-income people, but when my husband and I looked into it, we found that the housing prices are very high. Compared to my husband and I's current income, it will take a long time to own a house.”

Mr. Mai Thanh Hung, a technical staff at a company in Tan Phu ward, shared: “I am eligible to buy social housing, but the hardest part is that every time there is a new project, the information is announced very quickly and after only a few days, the registration is full. The house price is also high, a house of about 50m² is more than 1 billion VND. Meanwhile, my income is only more than 10 million VND/month, the accumulated money is only a few tens of millions. If I want to borrow more, the procedures and approval process are also very complicated such as: documents proving stable income, salary statement, labor contract, marital status... For people with average income like me, buying social housing in Ho Chi Minh City is still a long way off."

Meanwhile, Ms. Mai Phuong, who is living in an apartment in a social housing project in Thu Duc ward, shared: "Buying social housing is not too difficult for those who are in the right category. The procedure only requires preparing complete documents such as: Household registration or KT3, application for buying social housing, social insurance payment certificate, labor contract, marriage status certificate, certificate of not owning a house in Ho Chi Minh City, statement proving that you do not have to pay personal income tax... After completing the application and submitting it through the company, this unit will send it to the Department of Agriculture and Environment for verification. About a month later, there will be results, at that time the buyer only needs to make the first payment".

A real estate expert shared that the social housing development policy in Ho Chi Minh City still has many shortcomings. The demand of migrant workers is very large, but the supply is scarce. Meanwhile, the land fund for social housing has not been clearly planned, the project implementation is slow and has many procedures.

Many projects have been approved for many years, but have not been able to start construction due to problems with site clearance or waiting for specific instructions from departments and branches. In addition, social housing prices in some places are gradually approaching commercial prices, making the goal of housing for low-income people increasingly out of reach.

Supply remains low

A representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction said that, after reviewing, Ho Chi Minh City currently has 35 commercial housing projects, urban areas with 20% of land allocated for social housing development with a total area of ​​about 247 hectares, expected to provide about 71,000 apartments. Meanwhile, the Binh Duong area (old) has 33 projects with an area of ​​138 hectares, equivalent to about 39,000 apartments and the Ba Ria - Vung Tau area (old) has 4 projects, an area of ​​23 hectares, expected to provide about 5,800 apartments.

In addition, Ho Chi Minh City has completed and put into use 2 projects with 1,554 apartments. Currently, there are 3 projects that have started construction with a scale of 2,009 apartments and 13 projects under construction with a total of 14,584 apartments. Of which, by the end of 2025, it is expected that 7 projects will be completed (5,222 apartments), 3 projects will have completed the rough construction (4,110 apartments, including 1 project partially completed in 2025, which is the project of Nam Kim Company) and 4 projects will have completed the foundation, eligible for sale, lease, and hire-purchase with a scale of 4,730 apartments.

“To prepare the supply of social housing for the coming years, Ho Chi Minh City currently has 26 projects that have been approved for investment with a scale of about 24,600 units. These projects are completing legal procedures to soon start construction, contributing to meeting the increasing housing needs of the people,” a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction also informed.

According to Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association, the real estate market in the country and Ho Chi Minh City, although showing positive signs, still faces some major difficulties, namely the lack of project supply leading to a lack of housing products.

The most worrying thing is that from 2021 until now, new housing projects no longer have houses priced under 30 million VND/ ^m2 and there is a severe shortage of social housing. All housing projects brought to the market only have high-end housing, no longer have mid-range or affordable housing, beyond the financial capacity of the majority of people with low and middle incomes.

Lesson 2: Why is there still a shortage of social housing?

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/phong-su-dieu-tra/phat-trien-nha-o-xa-hoi-tai-tp-ho-chi-minh-bai-1-nhu-cau-lon-nhung-nguon-cung-con-nho-giot-20251012093418394.htm