This study investigates the misalignment between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and social housing development (SHD) in Vietnam, focusing on six major urban centers: Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh City, and Can Tho, over the period 2010–2022. The research direction seeks to understand why FDI, despite its pivotal role in driving economic growth, has not effectively supported social housing projects, which are critical for address-ing housing needs of low-income groups amid rapid urbanization. The primary objective is to identify the structural and contextual factors hindering FDI’s contribution to SHD, while proposing policy reforms to align FDI with sus-tainable and inclusive urban development goals. A mixed-methods approach is employed, integrating quantitative analyses (including normality tests, Pearson correlation, and linear regression) with qualitative insights derived from prior studies, to provide a comprehensive examination of the FDI-SHD relationship. The study aims to elucidate the key factors driving this misalignment, assess regional policy variations across major cities, and offer actionable poli-cy recommendations, such as reforming tax incentives, promoting public-private partnership models, and streamlin-ing administrative processes, to enhance FDI’s role in social housing development, contributing to sustainable urban frameworks in Vietnam and offering lessons for other developing economies.
Truc et al. (Mon,) studied this question.