Authorities give ​social housing the cold shoulder

Another 263 projects with 215,800 houses are currently under development. The government had set a target of 12.5 million square meters of social housing in 2016-20, but only managed 5.2 million square meters over 104,200 units at 249 projects, according to the Ministry of Construction.

It said the government requires provinces and cities to ensure 20 percent of land used for real estate projects earmarked for social housing, but this is not scrupulously followed.

Social housing fails to attract interest from developers because of the low profits and long payback period.

Funding is also a major obstacle.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) planned to allocate VND9 trillion ($391 million) to the Bank for Social Policies for lending for social housing development in 2016-20, but only allocated 24 percent of the sum.

The four state-owned banks, Vietcombank, Vietinbank, BIDV, and Agribank, have not provided loans to people seeking to buy social housing since they have not received funds from the central bank.

The ministry urged local authorities to set aside 20 percent of lands for social housing.

It also called on the SBV to allocate funds to the four state-owned banks for lending at preferential interest rates.