HCM City (VNA) - People withlow-incomes are now confronting a crisis as the preferential loan package of 30trillion VND (1.3 billion USD) for affordable home purchases ended in 2016,with no workable alternative currently on offer.

In April 2017, the National Assembly StandingCommittee granted the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) 2 trillionVND (88 million USD) to implement the housing assistance programme for thosewho have contributed to the revolutionary cause. However, both home seekers andenterprises were unable to access the preferential loans.

Hoang Nhat in Tan Binh district, HCM City, hadto get a commercial loan with interest of 8 percent per year when he bought asocial house in Binh Tan district. The bank will cover 2 percent of theinterest for the first two years, but rates could rise after that.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Lan in Binh Thanh districtis still waiting for a preferential loan as she needs about 500 million VND(22,000 USD) to purchase a house.

“I would rather wait than take a commercial loanbecause its interest rate may rise too high,” she said.

Truong Anh Tuan, chairman of Hoang QuanCooperation, said that the lack of preferential loan packages for social homepurchases halted their 22 projects of constructing affordable homes. To raisemarket demand, enterprises have to offer clients interest rate subsidies.

A representative of Nam Long Investment HoldingCompany said that in 2018, only 500 billion VND (22 million USD) was funded forVBSP to support affordable home purchasers with low interest rates. Meanwhile,enterprises cannot enjoy the capital.

Dao Anh Tuan, head of the Student CreditDepartment under VBSP, said that the Governmental decree issued in 2015assigned the bank to implement the social housing policy. However, as of 2017,there had been no capital allocated. Capital of 500 billion VND funded by theState Bank of Vietnam (SBV) this year is expected to be lended at the interestrate of 4.8 percent a year, according to Tuan.

Borrowers include those who have contributed tothe revolutionary cause, poor and near-poor households, low-income workers andState employees.

On the other hand, Nguyen Quoc Hung, head of theDepartment of Credit under SBV, said that only 500 billion VND out of thepreferential loan package of 2 trillion VND would be disbursed in the nearfuture. The rest will be gradually paid out by 2020.

According to him, the previous package of 30trillion VND has received 7 trillion VND (307 million USD) of repayment so far.

Nguyen Trong Ninh, head of the Department ofHousing and Realty Market Management under the Ministry of Construction,suggested that the SBV fund commercial banks with the preferential capital forsocial housing as enterprises cannot access loans offered by SBV.

The only way to help enterprises addressfinancial difficulties is to provide an interest subsidy on loans provided bycredit institutions, he said.-VNA