Acceleration
As one of the provinces and cities that have not yet achieved the social housing target for 2025, Can Tho is accelerating the development of social housing funds, especially for workers and low-income people.
On December 19, Can Tho City will inaugurate the Hong Loan Social Housing Apartment Project, Block B, Block C with 616 apartments and start construction of the Hong Loan Social Housing Apartment Project, Block A (420 apartments).
Last August, the Social Housing Project at the Trade Union Institution Area (An Nghiep Industrial Park, Can Tho) was started on an area of 28,000m2 with more than 1,200 apartments, expected to bring civilized and stable accommodation to about 2,500 workers. The project has a total investment of about 874 billion VND, with a scale of 6 social housing buildings from 9-15 floors, 1 15-storey commercial building, 1 kindergarten with an area of 2,182m2, and a green landscape system.
Can Tho City Department of Construction informed that to complete the target of 16,900 social housing units by 2030, the unit proposed that the City People's Committee focus on implementing a number of key solutions such as reviewing and updating urban and industrial planning to ensure land funds for social housing development, including workers' accommodation and housing for the people's armed forces.
Social housing projects will be arranged in locations with convenient transportation, connected to industrial centers and ensuring synchronous technical and social infrastructure.
In early December 2025, the People's Committee of Dong Thap province also announced information about two social housing projects, including the Binh Thanh 1 and Binh Thanh 2 Social Housing Projects. Of which, the Binh Thanh 1 Social Housing project has a scale of nearly 9.93 hectares, providing about 816 units; the Binh Thanh 2 Social Housing project is built in Binh Thanh commune, with a land use area of about 9.83 hectares, expected to provide 828 units when completed.
Most recently, on December 5, Vice Chairman of Dong Thap Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Dieu signed a decision to assign the investor to implement the Nguyen Trai Street Social Housing Project. The project is located in Son Quy ward with the expected supply of 276 social housing apartments, starting construction in the first quarter of 2026.
In the North Central region, according to the latest report of the Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee, social housing projects in the area are being implemented simultaneously, expected to complete 5,884 units in 2025, exceeding 12% of the target assigned by the Prime Minister.
Mr. Nguyen Manh Tuan - Head of the Department of Housing and Real Estate Market, Thanh Hoa Department of Construction - said that the whole province is implementing more than 10 social housing projects.
In Nghe An, according to the report on November 28, the province has completed 2,488 social housing units and workers' housing in 3 major projects. In 2025 alone, the province strives to complete 2,548 more units - a figure far exceeding the target of 1,420 units assigned by the Government.
There are still places in trouble
In the North Central region, besides Thanh Hoa and Nghe An, some provinces are still struggling to implement social housing.
For example, in Ha Tinh, despite land allocation, calling for investors still faces many difficulties. Ha Tinh was allocated 3,700 social housing units by the Government for the period 2021-2030, with an annual plan: 688 units will be completed in 2026; 500 units in 2027; 600 units in 2028; 800 units in 2029 and 960 units in 2030.
To implement the plan, the province has arranged 4 land plots, nearly 80 hectares, and proposed to build social housing. However, the implementation of the target of 3,700 units still mainly falls in the following years.
In Quang Tri, after the merger of provinces, the demand for social housing increased sharply when many cadres and employees changed their workplaces. The bridge is large but the supply is limited, leading to a situation of "brokers", "reserving goodwill" against regulations.
Quang Tri is allocated 9,100 social housing units for the 2025-2030 period. According to the Department of Construction, so far only 2 projects are eligible for sale, of which the social housing project in Nam Dong Ha Urban - Service Area (Nam Dong Ha ward) is the first project, with 142 apartments.
According to the Quang Tri Department of Construction, the whole province is implementing 10 social housing projects, a total of 6,512 apartments. However, slow progress has caused supply to not meet demand.
In Vinh Long, the Provincial People's Committee has just sent a report to the Ministry of Construction on adjusting the social housing development target by 2030, proposing to reduce it from 38,500 to 23,500 units, or 15,000 units less than the original target.
An important highlight in this proposal is the proposal for preferential credit. According to the Provincial People's Committee, the credit package of VND 120,000 billion, now increased to VND 145,000 billion, still has an excessively high interest rate for low-income people - the main group of social housing.
Currently, Vinh Long has reviewed and arranged about 30 land plots with a total area of over 154.71 hectares to serve social housing development. To date, the province has completed 1,199/2,442 apartments in 3 projects in Long Duc ward, Long Duc Industrial Park and Son Dong ward. 3 projects with a scale of 1,063 units have been started, including Phuoc Tho 1 & 2 residential area and Giao Long Industrial Park Trade Union institution. There are currently 3 projects with 1,810 apartments completing investment procedures.
Need to be resolved
Talking to Lao Dong, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Nam - General Director of G-Home Joint Stock Company - said that the biggest problem at present is the lack of consistency in the determination of localities.
"Where there are proactive leaders, land funds will be arranged and mechanisms for businesses to implement projects will be completed. On the contrary, many localities have not clearly demonstrated this spirit" - Mr. Nam commented.
According to him, many localities have not yet arranged land funds, have not cleared land, have not had approved land use plans for social housing; some places have not even called for any projects.
According to the Vietnam Institute for Real Estate Market Research and Evaluation (VARS IRE), State management agencies need to seriously assess and apply sanctions for leaders of some localities that have not fully fulfilled their responsibilities in developing social housing.
To overcome this, VARS IRE believes that it is necessary to perfect the mechanism to ensure land fund allocation and social housing development close to actual needs; it can be assigned to independent research units to survey, evaluate professionally, and serve as a scientific basis for planning.
From an expert's perspective, Dr. Tran Xuan Luong (National Economics University) proposed that the State should prepare clean land funds and publicly announce them so that businesses can easily access them; at the same time, introduce banks participating in preferential lending early and build a list of standard suppliers for the social housing segment.
According to him, only when a closed support chain is formed from procedures, land funds, loans to materials, contractors, can social housing policies come into play. Otherwise, the big target will continue to be hampered by familiar "bottlenecks".
