Hanoi, March 31 -- The Vietnamese government has allocated over 4.55 trillion VND (nearly 178 million USD) to eliminate temporary and substandard houses for low-income households nationwide, the Ministry of Ethnic and Religion Affairs announced on March 30.

The funding, sourced from a 5% savings in last year's regular expenditure as approved by the National Assembly, has been distributed to localities for implementing the housing support programme.

To date, 2.83 trillion VND, nearly 82% of the assigned budget, has been disbursed by ministries, sectors, local administrations, banks, and corporations, with dozens of entities completing 100% of their financial transfers.

According to the ministry, up to 168,027 homes have been supported u...