The Hanoi Department of Construction (HDC) will be accepting social house buying applications from April 2010 onwards. Hanoi will have a housing fund for the first 800 houses in Viet Hung urban area in Long Bien district until October 2010.

These houses belong to the housing project for economically disadvantaged people. The funds originate from capital resources of the Hanoi People’s Committee. 500 of the homes will be designated for rental while the other 300 may be sold or rented.

The social house buying or renting regulation has been completed to be sent to the Hanoi People’s Committee for approval. It specifies clearly who can rent or buy social houses. According to Nguyen Quoc Tuan, HDC’s vice director, the benefits of social house buying are not only limited to public servants, but also households and individuals whose houses or land is revoked but are not compensated by other land and houses.

However, due to the current limitations of social housing, Hanoi will give first priority to public servants. The people who have a right to buy or rent a house must be voted in by their colleagues in their organization according to a scoring method. The level of priority depends on their mark.

HDC will collect applications of those who want to buy or rent social houses beginning in April, 2010. All the applications must carry the confirmation of their organization on the number of people who would live in a house, their income, and current housing conditions. After collecting the applications, HDC and the Labour, War Invalids, & Social Welfare Department will make an examination and approve the applications which meet the regulations.

According to HDC’s Housing Development Branch, the Hanoi People’s Committee had agreed to invest in 5 more social housing projects in Sai Dong (Long Bien District), Ngu Hiep (Thanh Tri District), Kim Chung (Dong Anh District) and Chuong My District.

The investors of these projects have completed plans to submit to HDC in the first quarter of 2010. If these projects are approved, HDC will announce the scale and the deadline of each project. It is estimated that the 5 housing projects can provide 4,900 houses to the Hanoi housing fund for the economically disadvantaged people, which may help to reduce housing pressures in Hanoi.