‘Social housing’ has become a popular topic for many public policy researchers, policy-makers, and residents in various countries in the world. Along with similar concepts, such as public housing, affordable housing, and low-income housing, social housing‘ reflects the deep social value. The basic premise of social housing policy is to assist low-income individuals and families to rent, purchase, and own housing units at appropriate price levels. This terminology has developed since 1945 with the initial phrase namely ‗public housing‘ (1945-1960s), then ‗sites-and-services‘ (1972-1980s), and ‗market-enabling‘ (1980s-present (Harris & Giles 2001). Currently, the concept of social housing has been used widely in many national policies including the United Kingdom, Canada, some East European countries, and Chile, as well as academic writings. Regardless of the different names, their key concepts are so similar that they often mean the same things in similar contexts. Therefore, the term social housing‘ also refers to public housing‘, affordable housing‘, or low-income housing and vice versa.
There is a fact the concept of social housing‘ used widely in many worldwide countries mainly refers to rental housing provision which is carried out by state, non-profit organizations, or both for low-income households who are unable to buy at the market price. Although these nations have the same viewpoint on social housing, governments develop social housing models in different ways. However, it is undeniable that social housing policy is one of the humanitarian policies that not only creates positive chances for residents to access affordable housing estates, and minimize social inequality but also helps to stabilize the housing market. These roles are also no exception for Vietnam.