After more than 10 years of working as a worker in Bac Thang Long Industrial Park (Hanoi), Ms. Le Nga has not been able to fulfill her dream of having a small house for her family. Her husband is a freelancer, stays at home to take care of children and drives a technology car to increase his income. The couple's total income is only over 10 million VND/month, not enough to save to buy a house. For more than 20 years, her family has had to rent a room in the Kim Chung Workers' Housing Area (Tien Loc commune, Hanoi).
At the end of 2025, when many social housing projects in Hanoi opened for sale, her family was hoping to get a home buy spot. However, that hope quickly flared up when the documents were stuck in the income confirmation step. Because Ms. Nga's husband is a freelancer, without a labor contract or salary table, proving his income becomes extremely difficult.
A month ago, the couple went to the Commune People's Committee to request confirmation but were instructed to go to the Commune Police. Here, the officer said that there were no specific instructions so "it could not be confirmed". Up to now, her family's documents have not been able to be submitted.
Similarly, the family of Mr. Nguyen Hanh Phuc (Hanoi) is also in a deadlock. His wife works as an online saleswoman and is a freelancer, so asking for an income confirmation becomes a major barrier, causing the family to face the risk of missing the opportunity to buy social housing.
"When I went to the Commune Police to request confirmation, the officer said that the decree had been issued but there were no specific instructions, so there was no basis to confirm income. People like us also do not know what documents they need to bring. Many people have to have hundreds of pages of bank statements to prove their income" - Mr. Phuc shared.
freelance workers in urban areas are the group that does not sign labor contracts and is considered to have low income when: Singles with actual income receive less than 20 million VND/month; singles raising underage children have an income of less than 30 million VND/month; couples with a total income of less than 40 million VND/month.
According to current regulations, low-income people in urban areas without labor contracts must prove their income and have confirmation from the Commune-level Police where they live when registering to buy social housing. In fact, this is the stage where many freelance workers are most affected.
Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh - Vice President of the Vietnam Real Estate Association - said that the requirement to confirm pre-inspection income is causing great difficulties for freelance workers.
"We recommend that we should soon switch to a post-inspection mechanism and clearly stipulate so that people can determine whether they are eligible to buy a house or not. If eligible, they can submit the application and commit to an honest declaration. When the post-inspector discovers fraud, the apartment will be fined and revoked according to regulations" - Mr. Dinh said.
Lawyer Tran Thi Thanh Lam (Chieu Phap Law Office) commented that to ensure the rights of freelance workers, it is necessary to issue unified national guidance on the income confirmation process. Currently, the Commune/Ward Police have the authority to confirm according to Form 05 of Circular 32/2025/TT-BXD.
In case there is no data for comparison, there should be instructions to allow workers to freely submit income commitments and take responsibility for the accuracy of the commitments, at the same time, the Commune Police can verify the reality at the place of residence through residential groups, village heads, the Fatherland Front and mass organizations.
In addition, management agencies may also consider using indirect data such as household health insurance contribution levels, electricity and water bills, rental information, consumer - credit data or actual living standards to support objective assessment of the income of freelance workers.
