The Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA) has just issued a document contributing opinions to the draft revised Housing Law, which proposes to amend and supplement a number of contents to improve policies on "policy housing".
Accordingly, the Association proposed to supplement point c (behind point b) clause 3 Article 61 of the Draft Housing Law, and re-supplement the provisions at point b clause 1 Article 51 of the 2014 Housing Law on "residentship conditions" for "subjects eligible to buy, buy in installment, rent social housing".
According to HoREA, Clause 1, Article 78 of the 2023 Housing Law and Clause 3, Article 61 of the Draft Housing Law stipulate: "3. Subjects specified in points a, b, c, d, đ, e and g, clause 1 of this Article of this Law who buy or lease-purchase social housing must meet all the following conditions: a) Housing conditions: subjects specified in points a, b, c, d, đ, e and g, clause 1 of this Article to be able to buy or lease-purchase social housing must meet housing conditions as prescribed by the Government; b) Income conditions: subjects specified in points c, d, đ and e, clause 1 of this Article to be able to buy or lease-purchase social housing must meet income conditions as prescribed by the Government; subjects specified in point b, clause 1 of this Article must be poor or near-poor households as prescribed by the Government".
According to the Association, the removal of the "residence condition" has led to a typical reality at "Social housing project at No. 324 Ly Thuong Kiet, Dien Hong ward, Ho Chi Minh City". The project has 1,254 apartments, including 1,025 social housing apartments, including 755 social housing apartments for sale and 270 social housing apartments for rent; the rest are 229 commercial housing apartments.
According to HoREA, because the 2023 Housing Law no longer stipulates "conditions on residence", more than 12,000 people have registered to buy, rent, buy, or rent social housing in this project. Among them, many people living and working in other provinces and cities also registered, leading to a situation that the Association considers unreasonable.
HoREA believes that removing the "condition on residence" is also unreasonable even in cases where people register to live and work in the same province. The Association cited an example of people living and working in Phan Thiet ward registering to buy social housing in Xuan Huong ward - Da Lat, Lam Dong province.
HoREA realizes that currently, with a large population database according to "Project 06" chaired by the Ministry of Public Security, people have been issued ID cards and information is integrated into the personal identification number VNeID. Therefore, according to the Association, the determination of "residence conditions" of subjects who are allowed to buy, rent, buy, or rent social housing can be carried out conveniently.
HoREA cited the Department of Police for Administrative Management of Social Order, Ministry of Public Security having Official Dispatch No. 511/C06-TTDLDC dated January 19, 2026 on implementing the confirmation of income conditions according to the provisions of Decree No. 261/2025/ND-CP of the Government to serve the implementation of social housing support policies.
Therefore, HoREA proposes to supplement point c (behind point b) clause 3 Article 61 of the Draft Housing Law, thereby reinforcing the provisions in point b clause 1 Article 51 of the 2014 Housing Law on "residence conditions" for "subjects eligible to buy, buy in installment, rent social housing". According to the Association, this is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state management and support project investors.
