Hanoi plans to mobilize VND12.35 trillion (US$521 million) from private and State budgets for social housing development programs in the 2021-2025 period.

A social housing project at Dong Ngac ward, Bac Tu Liem District. Photo: Cong Hung/The Hanoi Times

The figure was part of the city’s recently-released five-year plan, which will serve as a basis for Hanoi to ensure the effective development of social housing projects in the city, meeting public demand for housing and contributing to the city's development towards ecology, civilization, and modernity.

Under the plan, Hanoi would need 6.8 million square meters (sq.m) of floor area for social housing projects in the post-2020 period, including 1.25 million sq.m until 2025.

Since 2021, Hanoi has completed four social housing projects with a combined floor area of 0.33 million sq.m, while 46 others for an area of 2.9 million sq.m are under construction, and five are under feasibility study.

In the 2021-2025 period, Hanoi expects to speed up the construction of 22 projects and complete the preparation for others with a combined floor area of 1.21 million sq.m.

Based on the number of projects set for construction, Hanoi expects to add 257,000 sq.m of floor area in 2022; 32,900 sq.m in 2023; 361,700 sq.m by 2024; and 475,200 sq.m by 2025.

Over the years, Vietnam has faced a shortage of social housing projects, which meet 70-80% of the population's demand for living space. Instead, the number of luxury projects has been increasing and has exceeded the real needs.

Data from the Ministry of Construction indicate that, by the end of 2021, the medium and high luxury apartment segment had more than 70 million sq.m of unused housing.

By the end of June 2022, Vietnam has completed 279 social housing projects, equivalent to 148,000 apartments for 7.4 million sq.m of housing. Of the total, social housing projects for workers at industrial parks have numbered 122 or 2.72 million sq.m and those in urban cities totaled 157, or 4.67 million sq.m.

The Government had targeted to have 12.5 million sq.m of housing floors for social housing during the 2010-2020 period, but so far, only 60% have been completed.

The Ministry of Construction has set the target of building at least one million social houses by 2030 in major cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Giang, and Long An.