Journey to remove dilapidated houses: Untangling 'knots', lighting up faith

(Chinhphu.vn) - Up to now, Vietnam has completed one of its historic tasks: eliminating temporary and dilapidated houses nationwide. This is not only an important milestone in the poverty reduction roadmap, but also a special national project - a project of the Party's will and the people's heart, vividly demonstrating the consensus and cooperation of the entire political system, people and business community for the goal of bringing a prosperous and happy life to the people.

People in Huoi Lich 2 village, Nam Ke commune, Dien Bien province received support to build new houses - Photo: VGP/SH

Clearing 3 major bottlenecks

The journey to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses nationwide has not been smooth. During the implementation process, 11 groups of problems have arisen, requiring close and flexible direction from the central to local levels. The problems have been handled promptly and in the right direction, contributing to ensuring the program is carried out synchronously, on schedule and with quality.

Typical groups of problems include: determining criteria for temporary and dilapidated houses; difficulties in mobilizing resources; arranging budget support for people with meritorious services and relatives of martyrs; allocating funds from the Central Government; handling the difference in support levels between national target programs; reviewing beneficiaries; cases that do not meet the corresponding conditions; land issues; payment procedures; conditions for beneficiaries in related programs and other arising issues.

It is noteworthy that all the problems and recommendations of ministries, branches and localities were promptly resolved by the Central Steering Committee for the elimination of temporary and dilapidated houses nationwide (Steering Committee), the standing agency and relevant units, in accordance with their authority or submitted to competent authorities for consideration and resolution. This approach has created conditions for localities to be proactive and flexible in implementation, helping the program to be implemented smoothly and without interruption.

In addition to common problems, the report from the Steering Committee also pointed out the three biggest groups of problems that directly affect the implementation progress, including: problems with construction land, difficulties in mobilizing resources and funding to support housing for people with meritorious services and relatives of martyrs.

First, on land for construction. One of the common barriers in social security programs over the years has been the lack of legal land for housing construction or repair. To completely resolve this situation, the Prime Minister has directed to unify support for housing construction on land without disputes, and delegated authority to the chairmen of the People's Committees at the district and commune levels to decide according to decentralization.

At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment issued Official Letter No. 1066/BNNMT-QLDD dated April 14, 2025 guiding localities to arrange residential land for households in difficulty. Thanks to the drastic direction, this group of issues was handled from the beginning, avoiding prolonged problems during the implementation process.

Second, on resource mobilization. With a national scale and hundreds of thousands of houses needing to be built or repaired, resource mobilization is a decisive issue. However, by renewing and diversifying resources, the program has achieved impressive figures: nearly 24,762 billion VND was mobilized, along with more than 2.7 million working days and 454,318 people, armed forces, businesses... directly supporting the construction process.

The Government and the Steering Committee have grouped localities according to their mobilization capacity, assigned specific tasks to ministries, branches, corporations, and general companies, and closely combined the State budget and socialized resources. In addition, the Steering Committee also decided to add VND 384.4 billion to support the difference for localities to implement in 2025 from the two National Target Programs.

Third, regarding funding to support people with meritorious services. For the group of people with meritorious services to the revolution and relatives of martyrs, the support policy is stipulated in Decision 21/2024/QD-TTg dated November 22, 2024. The National Assembly has allowed the use of resources from the increased central budget revenue in 2024 for implementation. However, while waiting for the official allocation process, the Government has directed localities to proactively advance the budget, ensuring no delay in supporting people to start building or repairing houses.

With a decisive and flexible approach, by July 24, 2025, localities had completed 100% of housing support for people with meritorious services and relatives of martyrs. This is one of the humane and proud results of the program.

The program to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses is a special national project, a project of the Party's will and the people's heart - Photo: VGP/SH

Results from consensus

It is undeniable that the journey to realize the goal of eliminating temporary and dilapidated houses is a difficult process, facing many challenges in finance, procedures, resources and implementation practices. However, it is the innovative thinking, timely decisions, flexible and creative approaches, along with the synchronous participation of the entire political system and the cooperation of the social community that have created a breakthrough change.

The program is not only a simple social security solution, but has become a model in organizing and implementing public policies - with the spirit of sticking closely to reality and taking effective action. The Prime Minister's guiding spirit of "6 clear" (clear people, clear work, clear products, clear time, clear responsibility, clear results) and the motto of "4 truths" (tell the truth, do the truth, be effective, and benefit the people) has permeated from the central to local levels, creating a widespread emulation movement with real effectiveness.

More important than the solid roofs built is the trust of the people that is built, the beautiful image of a government that knows how to act, serve and put the people at the center.

Son Hao

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/hanh-trinh-xoa-nha-dot-nat-go-nut-that-thap-niem-tin-102250825091805383.htm