Low-income people's dream of settling down comes true thanks to policy capital

Originally from Ky Anh commune, Phan Van Thinh's family (born in 1985) faced many difficulties when they had to rent a room for 6 years in a cramped space when they came to Thanh Sen ward to work. The opportunity to change their living environment came to the young couple when Ha Tinh province implemented the first phase of the social housing pilot project in Thach Linh ward (now Thanh Sen ward).

Accompanying the project, the Provincial Social Policy Bank implemented a social housing loan program with a preferential interest rate of 4.8%/year. In 2019, with the money he saved, Mr. Thinh borrowed 420 million VND to buy a ^65m2 apartment in the project.

Mr. Thinh shared: “Borrowing for social housing not only enjoys preferential interest rates but also has a long loan term, so we have less pressure to repay the debt. When customers have financial difficulties, the bank promptly supports and if they pay early, there is no fee, which are the “plus points” of this credit program. For civil servants and workers with limited salaries like us, if we do not have social housing capital, it will be very difficult to buy a house. After stabilizing our lives, we realized that the cost of renting is approximately the amount of money we pay to the bank each month, while we own property and our children live in a good environment. The apartment is located in a central location, with convenient transportation; the campus has a private kindergarten, mini supermarket, community room, etc., creating an architectural complex associated with a civilized and modern living environment.”

The family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy (born in 1984) has also become residents of the pilot social housing project phase I in Thanh Sen ward thanks to policy capital. Living with her husband's parents in a cramped space with many generations, Ms. Thuy and her husband always dreamed of having their own home. In 2018, her husband unfortunately passed away. To facilitate the work and study of the three of them, with the encouragement of her family and support from the Bank for Social Policies, Ms. Thuy decided to borrow 70% of the social housing capital to buy an apartment.

“Social housing is a humane credit policy for many low-income households. With only 150 million VND of initial capital from the family, the rest is supported through the Bank for Social Policies, and I can own a house in social housing. The loan interest rate is stable, the maximum loan term is 25 years, suitable for people's ability to repay. For me, with limited income and two young children, borrowing social housing is the right choice. Living in an apartment, my children and I enjoy modern amenities, creating conditions for the children to develop,” Ms. Thuy shared.

Along with Mr. Thinh and Ms. Thuy, hundreds of civil servants, public employees, workers, and low-income earners in Ha Tinh have accessed social housing loans to own apartments. Resources from the Social Policy Bank have become the driving force for people to change their lives towards autonomy and modernity.

Pursuant to Decision No. 338/QD-TTg dated April 3, 2023 of the Prime Minister approving the Project "Investing in the construction of at least 1 million social housing apartments for low-income earners and industrial park workers in the period of 2021 - 2030", Ha Tinh aims to develop social housing and worker housing for middle-income and low-income households in urban areas, workers and laborers in industrial parks and export processing zones; striving to complete about 3,700 apartments by 2030.

In particular, the pilot social housing project in Thanh Sen ward, phase II, with a total estimated investment of VND 550 billion, is a key project to realize this goal. The project is invested by Ha Tinh Development Investment Fund and started on August 19, 2025.

According to the leader of Ha Tinh Development Investment Fund: The project has a total floor area of ​​over ^46,200m2 with 3 12-storey buildings, over 500 apartments; 41 3-storey commercial houses with a traffic system, trees, sports grounds, parking lots and synchronous technical infrastructure, and other utilities. This is one of the key projects, expected to contribute to reducing housing pressure for low-income people and creating a premise for completing the urban infrastructure network, improving the quality of life for residents.

Accompanying the local government in implementing housing projects in the area, the Provincial Social Policy Bank continues to promote the social housing loan program. Currently, the maximum loan amount is 1 billion VND (before August 1, 2024, it is 500 million VND), helping customers access more capital and have enough resources to realize their dream of "settling down". The program will create financial leverage for officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers, especially low-income people, to access housing policies.

Mr. Phan Ngoc Vu - Deputy Head of Planning - Credit Operations Department (Provincial Social Policy Bank) said: The Social Policy Bank has actively accompanied the implementation of housing policies under the direction of the Government. In Ha Tinh, in recent times, the Social Policy Bank has closely coordinated with local authorities at all levels, project investors and related units to effectively implement the social housing credit program, creating sustainable resources for people to access housing policies. Hundreds of customers borrowed social housing to buy apartments at the social housing pilot project phase I in Thanh Sen ward. To date, the outstanding debt of this program has reached more than 733.6 billion VND with 1,913 customers still in debt.

The pilot social housing project phase II in Thanh Sen ward has been launched. The provincial Social Policy Bank continues to coordinate to promote communication so that people can grasp the policy; receive needs, implement loans according to the correct procedures, subjects, publicly and transparently on the basis of creating maximum conditions for customers. The capital source for loans to buy social housing is a stable source of capital, helping low-income people improve their quality of life, contributing to promoting local socio-economic development.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/uoc-mo-an-cu-cua-nguoi-thu-nhap-thap-thanh-hien-thuc-nho-von-chinh-sach-post294032.html