Ensuring housing access for middle-income earners
In this phase, Hai Phong City is rolling out a series of social housing projects. However, the dream of ‘settling down’ remains elusive for many workers and laborers.
High prices, insufficient supply
According to the Hai Phong Department of Construction, from 2021 to 2024, the city completed 5,904 social housing units. In 2025, the entire city finished about 10,775 social housing units, and it is currently implementing 49 projects with a scale of nearly 60,000 units. However, compared to actual demand, this number remains limited. Many projects are delayed or lack completed infrastructure, making it even harder for workers to access housing.
According to the city Labor Federation, the organization currently manages over 2,800 grassroots trade unions with 615,300 laborers, including nearly 592,800 members. In industrial parks and economic zones alone, there are more than 297,000 workers, about 30% of whom need to buy or rent social housing.
However, many workers still cannot achieve their dream of settling down due to high prices, cumbersome procedures, and lack of information. Notably, brokers inflate costs, making it difficult for laborers to access policies. Approval processes at some projects are still inadequate, with complex paperwork, untimely information, and limited post-review measures.
Untying the knots for social housing buyers and renters.
To address this, the city has directed a review of procedures to ensure equitable access for residents with simpler processes. The Department of Construction has established a task force to assist people with essential procedures. The task force's duties include updating a guidance handbook, providing online forms, and assigning staff to directly guide residents in preparing documents, save costs and time .
Information on projects such as scale, number of units, selling prices, and application deadlines must be publicly disclosed and regularly updated. At the same time, the Department of Construction also supervises investors’ application intake and sets up a hotline to promptly handle negative feedback.
In the coming time, the city will continue refining mechanisms, accelerating project progress, and prioritizing land near industrial parks for worker housing development. Meanwhile, relevant agencies will propose more flexible credit policies suited to affordability; enhance technology in processing applications and publicizing information. Along with that, inspections and audits will be tightened to prevent policy abuse and safeguard residents’ rights. This will gradually handle difficulties and querries, making social housing policies more substantive and effective.
Hai Phong News