HCMC – Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province will build an additional 8,300 social homes by 2025 due to the soaring demand, heard a meeting recently chaired by the provincial government.

The province has a mere nine social housing projects with a total of 1,550 units, mainly for public officials and civil servants, while low-income earners are finding it hard to access one, said the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Department of Construction.

Seven of the nine projects were sourced from the State budget, the department said, adding that over the past few days, few corporate investors have joined social housing projects due to complicated procedures and low profits, leading to workers, especially low-income earners, finding it tough to access an affordable house.

Vice Chairman of the province Nguyen Cong Minh said that due to the severe shortage of social houses, the provincial People’s Council had passed a resolution on a housing development program in the 2021-2030 period. The province will focus on social housing and resettlement projects using over VND10.1 trillion from the State budget. Public land will be used for social housing projects.

Besides, some VND59.8 trillion sourced from enterprises will be poured into commercial and social homes, Nguoi Lao Dong Online reported.

Under the plan, the province will set aside some 598,000 square meters to develop nearly 8,330 social homes to serve 34% of residents by 2025.

During the 2025-2030 period, another 8,300 social homes covering 640,000 square meters will be developed.

To speed up the program, the provincial government asked the relevant units to review the land fund and conduct site compensation processes to hand over the cleared site to investors to start work on social housing projects as soon as possible.

The province has given the green light to 10 social housing projects, including four projects for low-income earners and six others for workers. These projects will feature over 5,000 apartments and 400 houses.

In Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, some 64,000 employees work at the province’s industrial parks and clusters. Among them, over 50% are paying for home rent.