Helping workers access capital to settle down
In July 2025, Ms. Doan Thi Thuy Duong's family officially received the handover of a social housing apartment at Doi Banh apartment building, Ha Long ward. The family's apartment is on the 8th floor, with an area of 70m2, including 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, meeting the basic living needs of the family.
Ms. Duong said that before buying social housing, the couple had researched many commercial apartment projects in the area, but the selling price was almost double that of social housing. The family bought a social housing apartment for 16.2 million VND/m2, with a total value of more than 1.1 billion VND. With the couple's income, this is a suitable price.
The more important thing is to access preferential loans to buy social housing at the Social Policy Bank, Quang Ninh branch. The family borrowed 70% of the apartment value. Initially, the loan interest rate was 6.6%/year. From October 1, 2025, the interest rate will decrease to 5.4%/year according to Decree No. 261/2025/ND-CP of the Government. Each year, the family only has to pay about 38 million VND in interest" - Ms. Duong shared.
Ms. Duong's family story is one of thousands of cases of workers in Quang Ninh who have benefited from social housing development policies in recent years. According to Decree No. 100/2024/ND-CP of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Housing Law on the development and management of social housing, the Social Policy Bank, Quang Ninh branch, has provided loans for the construction, repair of houses and purchase and lease-purchase of social housing for 2,550 customers, with a total amount of about 1,070 billion VND.
Maintaining preferential credit capital, along with adjusting interest rates according to new decrees of the Government, has helped low-income people, workers and young civil servants boldly access social housing.
Planning ahead, creating room for social housing development
Quang Ninh is a province with an urban area stretching from Dong Trieu to Mong Cai about 200km. Residential areas are formed mainly along National Highway 18, associated with the development history of the coal industry and the mine workers.
The whole province currently has about 1.4 million people, the population growth rate is mechanistically slow. From the characteristics of population distribution and actual needs, Quang Ninh has soon implemented the Social Housing Development Program according to the Prime Minister's plan for the period 2021-2025 and 2025-2030.
Based on the advice of the Department of Construction, the Provincial People's Committee has planned 49 locations for social housing development, with a total area of about 313 hectares and a scale of 56,138 apartments. The province also arranged 3 social housing locations for the armed forces, with a scale of 2,198 units.
The total planning to date has reached 58,336 units, compared to the target assigned by the Prime Minister for the 2025-2030 period of 17,588 units, more than 3 times.
Report of the Department of Construction of Quang Ninh province, after Resolution No. 201/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly (effective from June 1, 2025) on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of social housing was issued, along with Decree No. 192/2025/ND-CP and Decree No. 261/2025/ND-CP of the Government, the development of social housing in the province has had a clear change.
By November 30, 2025, in the 2021-2025 period, the whole province had completed 8,436/8,600 social housing units, reaching 98.1% of the set target. In 2025 alone, Quang Ninh has deployed 2,680/2,201 units, reaching 122.1% of the target assigned by the Prime Minister.
Mr. Nguyen Anh Tu - Director of the Department of Construction - said that the department will continue to advise the Provincial People's Committee to synchronously implement the resolutions and decrees of the Central Government; prioritize the arrangement of land funds for social housing construction in favorable locations and synchronous infrastructure. Encourage investors to apply science and technology, design models, optimize material and labor costs to reduce costs. Diversify the usable area, suitable for the needs of single households, households with few or many people. On that basis, effectively use land funds and investment resources.
