The Ministry of Construction has proposed a major change to the way low-income urban residents prove their eligibility for social housing, suggesting that ward-level police, rather than local People’s Committees, handle income verification.
A social housing project in HCM City. Việt Nam has set an ambitious target to build at least one million affordable homes nationwide by 2030. — VNA/VNS Photo
The proposal, contained in a draft revision of Decree 100/2024, would apply to individuals without formal labour contracts, such as street vendors, ride-hailing drivers or other informal workers.
Under the plan, police at the ward or commune level would issue verification within seven days, using data from the national population database.
Currently, income verification is the responsibility of local People’s Committees, which lack access to residents’ data and have reported difficulties in handling applications.
Cities and provinces, including Hà Nội, HCM City, Thanh Hóa, Đà Nẵng, Cần Thơ and Quảng Ninh, have all flagged the issue to the ministry.
The move follows a directive by Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính in March, instructing the Ministry of Public Security to update the national population database to support affordable housing eligibility checks and reduce administrative burdens.
The draft also proposes raising the maximum qualifying income for individuals to VNĐ20 million (US$790) per month, up from VNĐ15 million, and VNĐ40 million for married couples.
Single parents or divorced individuals raising underage children would be eligible with incomes of up to VNĐ30 million per month.
At the same time, the ministry suggested lowering preferential loan rates for homebuyers in social housing projects to 5.4 per cent annually, from the current 5.9 per cent, to further support demand.
Việt Nam is implementing an ambitious plan to build at least one million social housing units nationwide.
Over the past three years, 692 projects have been launched with more than 633,000 units. Of these, 146 projects with more than 103,000 units have been completed, including nearly 37,000 in the first seven months of this year alone, seven times higher than in 2022.