Decision No. 2127/QD-TTg dated November 30, 2011 of the Prime Minister approving the national strategy on housing development through 2020, with a vision toward 2030

THE PRIME MINISTER

Decision No. 2127/QD-TTg of November 30, 2011, approving the national strategy on housing development through 2020, with a vision toward 2030

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to the November 29, 2005 Housing Law;

Pursuant to the 2011-2020 socio-economic development strategy;

At the proposal of the Minister of Construction,

DECIDES:

Article 1. To approve the national strategy on housing development through 2020, with a vision toward 2030, with the following principal contents:

I. VIEWPOINTS

1. Having an appropriate and secure home is one of the fundamental rights and crucial conditions for the comprehensive development of humans and, concurrently, a decisive factor in the development of human resources for national development. Housing development is the responsibility of the State, the society and people.

2. Housing development constitutes an important content of the socio-economic development policy. The State will adopt policies to promote the development of the housing market while rendering housing support to social policy beneficiaries, low-income earners and poor people facing housing difficulties so as to contribute to maintaining political stability, assuring social security and developing urban and rural areas toward civilization and modernity.

3. Housing development in localities must be in line with local housing development programs in each period and comply with the housing law and approved master plans and plans to assure synchronous technical and social infrastructure. To develop housing on the basis of economically using resources, especially land; to intensify the management of house construction; to attach importance to the development of apartment buildings and houses for lease by both state and private sectors.

4. Housing development must assure safety and meet construction quality, architectural, landscape, convenience and environmental requirements, and assure capability to respond to climate change and natural disasters and energy conservation according to promulgated technical regulations and standards.

II. STRATEGY OF ACTION

To concentrate on studying and comprehensively amending and supplementing mechanisms and policies on planning, land, finance and science and technology and elaborating five-year and annual plans to tap resources from various economic sectors for housing development under the market mechanism; at the same time, to formulate appropriate mechanisms and policies and proactively implement housing development programs targeted at social policy beneficiaries and low-income earners in urban areas who are facing housing difficulties; to attach importance to perfecting policies and implementing programs on building houses for industrial park workers; to further implement programs on building dormitories for students of universities, colleges and professional secondary and vocational schools; to support rural poor households to improve their homes; to support inhabitants in areas prone to natural disasters and inundation to improve their housing conditions in response to climate change and sea level rise.

To increase the proportion of apartments, strongly develop houses for lease in urban areas, including low-rent houses built with state investment and commercial lease houses built with state support by various economic sectors; to strive to build new houses with 100 million m2 of floor area every year, reserving at least about 20% of the floor area in housing development projects in urban areas for social policy beneficiaries and low-income earners.

Housing development targets, including the target of building social houses for different groups of beneficiaries, must be clearly identified in annual and periodical local socio-economic development tasks for achievement and for supervision and evaluation of achievement by competent agencies.

III. OBJECTIVES

1. Objectives through 2015:

- The average f­­­lo­­­­­o­­­­­­­r ­­­­­­area in the whole country will reach 22 m2/person, with 26 m2/person in urban areas and 19 m2/person in rural areas; to strive to reach the minimum floor area of 6 m2/person;

- During 2011-2015, to further implement social housing development programs in urban areas and support poor households in rural areas; to strive to build at least 10 million m2 of social houses to create accommodation (mainly apartments) for low-income earners in urban areas; to satisfy the accommodation needs of around 60% of students of universities, colleges and professional secondary and vocational schools and 50% of industrial park workers; to provide support for some 400,000 rural poor households (identified by the new poverty line) to improve their homes;

- The rate of firmly built houses will reach about 62% nationwide, with 65% in urban areas and 60% in rural areas; to reduce the rate of rudimentary houses to below 5%; to increase the rate of households having hygienic latrines to 70%, with 95% in urban areas and 50% in rural areas;

- The proportion of apartments in housing development projects will reach over 80% in special-grade urban centers (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City), over 50% in grade-I and -II urban centers, and over 30% in grade-III urban centers. In urban centers of grade III or higher, houses for rent will account for at least 20% of total houses.

- To strive to provide support for all persons with meritorious services to the revolution to improve their homes under current mechanisms and policies; to further study amendments and supplements to and implement regulations on support for persons with meritorious services to the revolution to improve their homes.

2. Objectives through 2020:

- The average f­­­lo­­­­­o­­­­­­­r ­­­­­­area in the whole country will reach 25 m2/person, with 29 m2/person in urban areas and 22 m2/person in rural areas; to strive to reach the minimum floor area of 8 m2/person;

- During 2016-2020, to strive to build at least 12.5 million m2 of social houses in urban areas; to satisfy the accommodation needs of around 80% of students of universities, colleges and professional secondary and vocational schools and 70% of industrial park workers; to provide support for some 500,000 rural poor households (identified by the new poverty line) to improve their homes;

- The rate of firmly built houses will reach about 70% nationwide, with 75% in urban areas and 65% in rural areas; to eliminate rudimentary houses all over the country; to increase the rate of households having hygienic latrines to 90%, with approximately 100% in urban areas and over 80% in rural areas;

- The proportion of apartments in housing development projects will reach over 90% in special-grade urban centers (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City), over 60% in grade-I and -II urban centers, and 40% in grade-III urban centers. In urban centers of grade III or higher, houses for rent will account for at least 30% of total houses.

To strive to reach the average floor area of 30 m2/person, with the minimum floor area of 12 m2/person by 2030.

IV. TASKS AND IMPLEMENTATION SOLUTIONS

1. Tasks:

a/ The State will create conditions to encourage all economic sectors to participate in developing commercial houses for sale, lease or lease-purchase under the market mechanism to meet the demand of better-off customers;

b/ The State will adopt mechanisms and policies to support housing development to create accommodation for social policy beneficiaries facing housing difficulties but incapable of affording a home under the market mechanism. Specifically:

- To tackle housing problems for persons with meritorious services to the revolution by further applying the policies on providing support to these persons who buy or lease publicly-owned houses or are allocated land for building houses, and prioritizing and supporting those who lease or lease-purchase social houses built with state investment or social or low-cost houses built by enterprises of different economic sectors;

- To tackle housing problems for rural poor households by further implementing support policies to help them have stable and safe accommodation and step by step improve their living standards, contributing to sustainable hunger eradication and poverty reduction in the direction that the State will provide funding support from the state budget in combination with loans borrowed from the Social Policy Bank and funds raised from the community, family lines and supported households themselves; to encourage organizations and individuals to donate gratitude, compassion or great unity houses to those facing housing difficulties;

- To tackle housing problems for low-income earners in urban areas in the direction that the State will use the state budget to build social houses for lease or lease-purchase and, at the same time, promulgate preferential mechanisms and policies to encourage various economic sectors to build low-cost houses for sale, lease or lease-purchase;

- To tackle housing problems for cadres, civil servants, public employees, intellectuals and artists in the direction that the State will use the state budget to build public-duty houses which will be arranged to cadres and civil servants of Party and state agencies and socio-political organizations working under the transfer or rotation regime and others eligible to live in public-duty houses according to regulations. The State will use the state budget to build social houses for lease or lease-purchase; study and adopt preferential mechanisms and policies to encourage various economic sectors to build social houses and low-cost houses for sale, lease or lease-purchase. The State will adopt financial support policies (housing development funds, home savings funds and other lawful funding sources according to law) for cadres, civil servants, public employees, intellectuals and artists to improve their homes;

- To tackle housing problems for officers and professional soldiers of the people’s armed forces in the direction that the State will build social houses under  state ownership for lease or lease-purchase; to study and promulgate preferential mechanisms and policies to encourage various economic sectors to build social houses and low-cost houses for sale, lease or lease-purchase to officers and professional soldiers; to study and promulgate amendments and supplements to existing mechanisms and policies on housing and residential land supports for officers and professional soldiers working in border, island and difficulty-hit areas and adopt financial support policies for officers and professional soldiers to improve their homes;

- To tackle housing problems for workers in industrial parks and clusters and production and service establishments outside industrial parks in the direction that the State will build houses for lease and, at the same time, adopt preferential land, planning, tax, finance and credit policies to encourage various economic sectors, including industrial park infrastructure enterprises, labor-intensive enterprises based in industrial parks, industrial and service establishments outside industrial parks, real estate enterprises, households and individuals, to build houses for sale, lease or lease-purchase to worker families and individual workers in industrial parks;

- To tackle accommodation problems for students of universities, colleges and professional secondary and vocational schools by further implementing the policies of using government bond and (central and local) state budget capital to build dormitories for lease to students of universities, colleges, professional secondary and vocational schools; to step by step study methods to raise funds from various economic sectors for building houses for students on the basis of creating conditions and adopting preferential mechanisms to encourage households and individuals to reserve land to build houses for lease to students;

- To tackle housing problems for social policy beneficiaries facing extreme difficulties (disabled people, lonely elderly people and Agent Orange victims) in the direction that the State will take the initiative and encourage various economic sectors to participate in building gratitude, compassion and great unity houses for these persons so as to help them have stable accommodation.

c/ To continue reforming administrative procedures and create favorable conditions for households and individuals to build homes under approved master plans.

2. Implementation solutions:

a/ Land policy

To focus on effectively tapping land resources so as to encourage various economic sectors to participate in housing development; to study amendments and supplements to improve land policies, especially important issues related to housing development such as those on compensation and ground clearance; elaboration, appraisal and approval of land use master plans and plans; clean land-creating mechanisms; and examination, review and recovery of wastefully used land for effective use; to perfect land-related finance and tax policies so as to meet requirements for housing development in general and social housing development in particular.

b/ Planning and architecture

- To accelerate the elaboration, appraisal and approval of detailed master plans on the basis of approved urban master plans and new-countryside master plans; to determine and publicize land areas where house construction is permitted under planning for implementation of housing development projects and for households and individuals to build or renovate their homes under planning;

- To develop and finalize land use norms in master plans on urban centers and rural residential points, and standards and technical regulations on designs of social houses and low-cost houses. Land areas for building houses of each type must be clearly specified in master plans on urban centers, including reasonable land areas for building social houses, houses for low-income earners and commercial houses as prescribed by the housing law. Master plans on industrial parks or universities, colleges, and professional secondary and vocational schools must be aligned with master plans on housing development for workers or teachers and students;

- To concentrate on building new apartment buildings for relocating households currently living in deteriorated and unsafe apartments in urban centers; to prioritize the use of these land areas for building public works under planning; to work out an appropriate roadmap for renovating and re-building old and unsafe apartment buildings;

- In rural areas, to step by step develop houses strictly according to planning; to build rural residential points with sufficient technical and social infrastructure to meet the objectives of the program on building a new countryside; to experiment the model of building houses under projects;

- House architecture in urban and rural areas must meet aesthetic requirements and have distinctive styles while attaching importance to the preservation and promotion of traditional values; to promulgate model home designs suitable to living practices, production conditions and cultural traditions in different regions and areas and capable of responding to natural disasters, earthquake and climate change, which can be referred to and applied by the people to building their homes.

c/ Finance-credit and tax policies

- To supplement and perfect mechanisms and policies to exploit and mobilize to the utmost domestic and overseas financial resources and ODA capital for housing development, particularly medium- and long-term financial sources through forming housing and real estate investment funds, issuing public bonds and corporate bonds and applying other lawful fund-raising methods;

- To develop a network of lending mortgage loans in a fast, effective, safe and easily accessible manner; to assure the control and recovery of mortgage loans; to standardize the process of providing home mortgage loans; to elaborate policies on home insurance, guarantee and credit, including micro-credit and rural home credit, to serve housing development; to create conditions for social policy beneficiaries to have access to loans for improving their homes;

- To study, amend and supplement housing tax policies to encourage the effective use of houses and restrict speculation; to provide tax incentives for projects to build houses for social policy beneficiaries and low-income earners and houses for lease;

- To direct the formation of local housing development funds according to the housing law; to formulate a scheme to set up home savings funds so as to increase financial resources for investors of social-house building projects and persons facing housing difficulties;

- To reform the salary regime, assuring a reasonable proportion of housing allowance in salaries for employees, especially those who are salaried with the state budget, to be able to build homes; to study and specify the responsibility of employers, especially labor-intensive enterprises, to join in tackling housing problems for their employees;

- Based on the socio-economic situation and budget balancing capacity, to rationally allocate state budget funds and other lawful capital sources or apply such investment forms as build-transfer (BT) or public-private partnership (PPP) to implement programs on building publicly-owned houses for low-income earners, poor people and other social policy beneficiaries according to approved plans.

d/ Policies to develop the housing market and manage the use of houses

- To attach importance to the forecast of housing needs and elaboration of housing development plans; to include housing development targets, including the compulsory social housing development target, in the system of national and local five-year and annual socio-economic development targets; to specify the responsibility of related agencies, organizations and individuals to assure achievement of planned housing development targets;

- To study and promulgate regulations on specific incentives as well as  penalties to protect the interests of both investors and tenants; to specify the obligations of involved parties so as to encourage various economic sectors to build houses for lease;

- To promulgate specific regulations to ensure diversified products of housing development projects and balanced proportions of small, medium and large apartments as well as low- and medium-cost and high-class houses;

- To study mechanisms and policies on and models of development and management of resettlement houses to serve compensation, ground clearance and land recovery according to law;

- To diversify forms and terms of house ownership (permanent ownership and termed ownership) for each area in each period so as to meet people’s needs and state management requirements;

- To perfect institutions for the housing market to develop in a healthy, public and transparent manner; to build a computerized system of housing information;

- To further study and perfect models of apartment management and use, promoting the role of apartment owners and users in managing, using and maintaining apartment buildings so as to prolong their lifetime. To develop sustainable rural and urban communities.

e/ Science and technology

- To research into and apply modern technologies in designing and building houses so as to increase the proportion of pre-built components and reduce the construction time and number of workers in construction sites as well as construction costs; to introduce preferential policies to support enterprises in producing or trading in energy-conserving, non-baked and re-cycled construction materials; to promulgate standards and technical regulations on designing and building eco-homes and energy-conserving homes;

- To intensify the quality management in designing, building and using houses so as to assure that houses, including privately built houses, meet quality requirements to be safe and capable of responding to natural disasters, earthquakes and climate change;

- To adopt policies to encourage and support the development and use of equipment operated by renewable energies in housing constructions in urban and rural areas.

f/ Administrative procedure reform

To scan administrative procedures in planning, architecture, land and construction management for a simple and effective process of building and managing houses so that households and individuals with lawful land use rights can easily obtain construction permits to build and renovate their homes under planning and investors can speed up their housing development projects to increase products for the market.

g/ Perfecting the organizational structure of housing development and management apparatuses

- To study and perfect the organizational structure of housing development and management apparatuses at all levels, especially at central agencies and in centrally run cities;

- To enhance community-based inspection, examination and supervision of the formulation and enforcement of the housing law;

- To step up the training in housing development and management for cadres and civil servants in charge of housing at all levels and housing market players;

- To establish enterprises with appropriate organizational and operational modes to take charge of developing and managing social houses, publicly-owned houses and houses for lease.

h/ Publicity work

To promote publicity work to mobilize people of all strata to change their practice of owning to leasing a home and to move from detached houses to apartments depending on their income and suiting the urban life, and assist one another in renovating and building their homes; to encourage association and cooperation in housing development through housing cooperatives.

V. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

1. Responsibilities of the Central Steering Committee for Housing and Real Estate Market Policy:

a/ To assist the Prime Minister in directing, urging, guiding and inspecting the implementation of, housing mechanisms and policies by ministries, sectors and localities, and the national housing development strategy through 2020, with a vision toward 2030;

b/ To direct the formulation of the scheme on setting up home savings funds for submission to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

2. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Construction:

a/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with ministries, sectors and localities in, implementing the national housing development strategy through 2020, with a vision toward 2030; to guide and urge the implementation of local housing development programs; to monitor and summarize the results of implementation of this strategy for reporting to the Prime Minister and preliminarily and periodically review the strategy; to propose amendments and supplements to the strategy to suit the practical situation in each period;

b/ To propose or jointly propose amendments and supplements to urban construction, housing and real estate business laws in conformity with housing development strategies and orientations and the practical situation; to study and propose amendments and supplements to technical regulations and standards related to housing development; to formulate mechanisms and policies and solutions to support each group of social policy beneficiaries facing housing difficulties to improve their homes;

c/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries, sectors and localities in, formulating policies on building houses for lease, a scheme on setting up home savings fund and other housing programs for submission to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision;

d/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and localities in, elaborating a system of statistical indicators on housing to serve policy-making and state management work;

e/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries, sectors and localities in, formulating and submitting to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision housing development master plans and programs, schemes, projects and plans on housing development for each specific group in key localities as decentralized and assigned to the Ministry; to direct, guide and supervise planning work as well as the implementation of housing development programs, schemes, projects and plans in provinces and centrally run cities nationwide;

f/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries, sectors and localities in, assigning and directing state-owned housing investment and business groups and corporations to participate in housing development programs, schemes, projects and plans in key areas;

g/ To propose plans to perfect the housing development and management apparatus and model and the system of state management agencies in charge of housing at all levels in each development period.

3. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment:

To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Construction and related ministries sectors in, studying amendments and supplements to land-related policies and laws in accordance with the solutions set down in this Decision to promote housing development to meet people’s needs.

4. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Planning and Investment:

a/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Construction and related ministries and sectors in, studying amendments and supplements to investment policies and laws so as to simplify housing development procedures and promulgating specific guidance on housing development investment in the forms of build-transfer (BT) and public-private partnership (PPP); to add projects to develop social houses, houses for low-income earners, houses for industrial park workers and houses for lease under the housing law to the list of projects eligible for investment promotion under the investment law;

b/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Construction and related ministries and sectors in, elaborating plans on allocating  the state budget, government bonds, ODA and other lawful capital sources for the implementation of housing programs, schemes, projects and plans specified in this Decision after they are approved by competent authorities.

5. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Finance:

a/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Construction and related ministries and sectors in, studying and perfecting financial and tax mechanisms and policies related to development of social houses, houses for low-income earners, houses for lease and houses for industrial park workers under this Decision; to study and formulate housing tax policies to prevent speculation; to guide and urge ministries and centrally run cities to set up and manage the operation of housing development funds according to the housing law; to issue specific guidance on financial mechanisms and policies on housing development investment in the forms of build-transfer (BT) and public-private partnership (PPP);

b/ To perform the state management of state budget investment in housing development programs, schemes, projects and plans under this Decision according to its competence.

6. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Home Affairs:

To coordinate with the Ministry of Construction in studying and perfecting the system of housing management and development agencies from the central to local levels so as to ensure effective housing development and management under this Decision and the housing law.

7. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs:

To coordinate with the Ministry of Construction in implementing programs on support for social policy beneficiaries, poor people and people with meritorious services to the revolution to improve their homes.

8. Responsibilities of the State Bank of Vietnam:

a/ To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Construction and related ministries and sectors in, studying and perfecting housing credit mechanisms and policies and the process of providing home mortgage loans and demortgage;

b/ To evaluate the implementation of housing finance orientations through 2020 under the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 105/2007/QD-TTg of July 13, 2007, and propose supplements to perfect these orientations.

9. Responsibilities of related ministries and sectors:

Within the scope of their assigned functions and tasks, to coordinate in studying and formulating mechanisms and policies and directing the implementation of policies related to housing development.

10. Responsibilities of provinces and centrally run cities:

a/ To direct housing development work in their localities according to the housing law; to complete the elaboration and adjustment of local housing development programs through 2020 in compliance with this strategy by the end of 2012; to organize planning work and implement local housing development programs and make annual reports on implementation results to the Ministry of Construction for summarization and reporting to the Prime Minister;

b/ To elaborate and incorporate housing development targets, especially those on social housing development, into local periodical and annual socio-economic development plans and organize their implementation;

c/ To arrange sufficient land areas for housing development, especially social houses, houses for low-income earners, poor people and social policy beneficiaries in their localities;

d/ To set up and operate housing development funds under the housing law;

e/ To arrange local budgets for building social houses, houses for low-income earners, poor people and social policy beneficiaries in their localities;

f/ To perform the state management of houses in localities.

11. To request the Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations to mobilize people to observe and supervise the observance of the housing law; to mobilize domestic and overseas organizations and individuals to make contributions and supports to programs on building houses for social policy beneficiaries, low-income earners and poor people facing housing difficulties.

12. Professional associations operating in the housing sector shall conduct publicity and education work for their members to observe the housing law; to participate in providing counseling and giving criticism and proactively implement housing policies.

Article 2. This Decision takes effect on the date of its signing and replaces the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 76/2004/QD-TTg of May 6, 2004, approving housing development orientations through 2020.

Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies and chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees shall implement this Decision.-

Prime Minister
NGUYEN TAN DUNG