Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Government has issued a new decree aiming to promotethe development of social housing.

Thedecree will amend Decree No 100/2015/ND-CP dated October 20, 2015, which was expectedto remove bottlenecks for the development of social housing projects amid aserious shortage of affordable homes in the market.

Takingeffect from the beginning of April, the new decree includes new regulations forthe percentage of land in commercial housing projects, urban areas andindustrial zones that must be used for social housing, as well as preferentialinterest rates for social housing developers and buyers.

Statisticsof the Ministry of Construction show there are a total of 1,040 social housingprojects nationwide, including 507 built independently on a total area of1,375ha and 533 projects built on the 20 percent of the land of commercialhousing projects and urban areas designated for social housing development witha total area of 1,983ha.

Ofthem, 248 projects are complete with 103,500 apartment units or 5.1million sq.m, 264 projects with 216,500 units are being constructed and therest have not started construction or are conducting investment procedures.

Theministry said the 5.1 million sq.m of completed social housing area only met41.1 percent of the goal set in the national housing development strategy to2020 with a vision to 2030. In this strategy, the Government aimed to develop12.5 million sq.m of social housing space by the end of 2020.

Thenew decree is expected to promote the development of social housing projects tomeet market demand.

Perthe decree, commercial housing and urban area projects with a total area of 2haor higher in urban areas classified as special or type one or from 5ha in urbanareas of type two and three must designate 20 percent of their total land withadequate technical infrastructure for social housing development.

Theplanning of industrial zones must designate appropriate land for social housingdevelopment with adequate technical and social infrastructure.

Socialhousing apartments must be sized from 25 sq.m to 70 sq.m. The number ofapartments with areas of higher than 70 sq.m must be less than 10 percent ofthe total units in social housing projects.

Inaddition, the interest rate for social housing buyers can't exceed 50 percentof the average lending rate in the same period.

Inaddition, the maximum lending duration was extended to 25 years from 15 yearsin the previous decree.

OnApril 1, then Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also issued a decision about thepreferential interest rate provided by the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies onoutstanding social housing loans at 4.5 percent, taking effect on January 1,2023./.