Social housing apartments of Nam Long Residential Area in HCM City’s District 7. — VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Đạt

HCM CITY — HCM City is striving to complete the procedures for construction investment to build 35,000 social housing apartments by 2025, equivalent to 2.5 million square metres of floor space.

The municipal People's Committee has reported the implementation of its housing development plan, including social housing projects in the city for the 2016-25 period.

Accordingly, the city has built and put into use 19 social housing projects, including 14,954 apartments from 2016 to 2020.

It has put into use one workers’ accommodation project with 1,449 apartments.

According to its social housing development plan, the city expects to build about 35,000 social housing units by 2025, including about 7,000 lease houses and 4,500 accommodations for workers.

By the second quarter of 2023, the city had completed and put into use two projects with 623 apartments.

Six social housing projects with 3,956 apartments and one worker accommodation project with 1,040 apartments are under construction.

The municipal People's Committee has petitioned to remove difficulties and obstacles in social housing construction related to site clearance, compensation, technical infrastructure investment, and other legal costs.

It has recommended the allocation of these costs to the land fund for social housing construction when investors of commercial housing projects hand over 20 per cent of their residential land fund to the State for social housing development.

The city also needs guidance on applying legal regulations on implementing social housing obligations when adjusting project implementation progress and on determining members of households to consider beneficiaries of social housing policies. — VNS