Amid high demand and limited supply for social housing in Ho Chi Minh City, local authorities are expediting efforts to resolve legal bottlenecks. To achieve the target of nearly 200,000 apartments by 2030, the city has introduced a "green channel" mechanism (fast-track administrative mechanism) to streamline administrative procedures and accelerate supply.
Reporters from SGGP Newspaper spoke with Huynh Thanh Khiet, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, about solutions to increase the supply of social housing.
According to Deputy Director Huynh Thanh Khiet, the Government has assigned the city a target of completing 181,257 social housing apartments for the 2026–2030 period, a tenfold increase compared to the 2021–2025 period. Specifically for 2026, the city is tasked with completing 28,500 apartments.
He revealed that, to date, one social housing project comprising 580 apartments has been completed and put into use, while ten projects totaling 11,362 apartments have broken ground. Currently, there are 22 projects under construction with a total of approximately 19,878 units, representing 69.7 percent of the target.
The city expects to break ground on another five projects, totaling approximately 10,000 apartments, this September. Additionally, 89 projects comprising about 97,100 apartments are currently in the stage where developers are completing procedures to begin construction.
Stressing that the city's goal extends beyond groundbreaking ceremonies, the official emphasized the critical need to transition projects from preparation to active implementation. To achieve this, construction progress will be strictly monitored to ensure timely completion and delivery. With a strong focus on the final months of the year, the city is tackling projects on a case-by-case basis, assigning clear, actionable responsibilities to relevant departments, local authorities, and developers.
Based on a proposal from the Department of Construction, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issued an official dispatch on March 9 outlining the procedures for implementing social housing investment projects within the city.
He said that under this directive, the time required to process administrative procedures which are carried out by people's committees in communes, departments, sectors, and the City People's Committee will be cut by 50 percent. Furthermore, Ho Chi Minh City has streamlined all social housing initiatives into "green" priority processing channels.
As per this policy, experienced specialists provide direct guidance and preliminary dossier reviews upon investor request to ensure strict compliance with timelines and procedures. While investment preparation and legal finalization for these projects historically require two to three years, this fast-track mechanism aims to significantly alleviate administrative delays.
Specific steps include approving investment policies, preparing or adjusting zoning plans, allocating land or converting land use purposes, and finalizing designs. Consequently, projects completed in the initial phase are primarily those prepared in previous years, whereas new projects—or those with legal hurdles resolved from 2026 onwards (with construction commencing in 2026)—will be slated for completion in subsequent years (from 2027 onwards).
Therefore, the volume of social housing completed during the early years of the period is unlikely to meet the targets set by the Prime Minister, despite the city's concentrated efforts to direct and accelerate progress. Based on a review, the social housing sector aims to bring 28,657 apartments to market by the end of 2026. Of these, two projects comprising 2,024 apartments are expected to be completed and put into use, while the remaining 22 projects totaling 26,633 apartments are slated to have their foundations and structural frameworks completed.
