Some workers in Hai Phong have to buy social housing with a price difference of hundreds of millions of VND

The conference approved the draft plan for social housing development of the city in 2026 and the 2027-2030 period; reporting on the housing needs of workers in 2026 and forecasting the needs in 2027.

According to a report by the Hai Phong City Labor Federation, the whole city currently has about 668,481 workers, of which about 327,000 union members are in industrial zones and clusters. About 650 boarding houses with nearly 29,500 rooms in the city only meet the needs of about 60,000 workers and laborers.

A recent survey by the City Labor Federation shows that 48.7% of the 4,492 people surveyed have a need to buy housing; 37.7% of the 4,577 workers surveyed have a need to rent social housing.

The major current difficulty for workers in accessing social housing is financial issues. Most workers have an income of less than 10 million VND/person/month, while the price of social housing is about 14-19 million VND/m2 (in 2025). Therefore, workers are particularly interested in selling prices, rents, prepayment, installment and credit policies.

At the conference, representatives of grassroots trade unions also shared the reality of the process of accessing social housing for workers, in which they clearly stated the difficulties that workers face. According to Mr. Vu Dinh Phi - Chairman of the Trade Union of Regina Miracle International Vietnam Co., Ltd. (VSIP Industrial Park), the demand for social housing for company workers is very large.

Through grasping the thoughts and aspirations of workers, social housing purchase dossiers currently have many steps of confirmation at local levels, businesses and related agencies. Applying for confirmation can sometimes take up to 2 weeks, taking a lot of time, making it difficult for workers who have to work in shifts, workers raising young children... The situation of brokerage and collecting differences outside the listed price also causes difficulties for workers. "In fact, at our company, some workers buy social housing, the price difference is from 100 million to 300, 500 million VND depending on the apartment and location, increasing costs, making social housing exceed the capacity of workers" - Mr. Phi clearly stated.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quoc Viet - Chairman of the Trade Union of Yazaki Hai Phong Vietnam Co., Ltd., the current minimum price of social housing is about 800 million VND. To own a social housing, workers must have 25% of the money to buy a house (the bank lends 75%), equivalent to about 200-300 million VND. This is also a barrier for workers, especially migrant workers with low incomes.

The recommendations were also directly answered by representatives of the Department of Construction at the conference, focusing on the supply of social housing, the progress of major projects being implemented, related procedures... The City Labor Federation proposed that functional agencies continue to review actual needs, progress and scale of each project; and at the same time publicize access to housing, selling prices, rental prices and support mechanisms so that social housing policies truly reach workers and laborers.

In the coming time, the City Labor Federation will also continue to grasp, summarize and reflect the needs of union members and workers, participate in contributing opinions, supervising and proposing to competent authorities solutions for social housing development suitable to workers' ability to pay, contributing to ensuring social security, stabilizing labor relations and human resources serving the city.

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