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It is a well-known fact that housing remains one of the basic needs of human survival and has a profound impact on human lifestyle and behavior.
It is this same behavior that prompts me to face my hydra-headed social problem.
Many Ghanaians prefer to build and own their homes gradually, so they proudly return home to a shelter after a hard day’s work with inscriptions such as: “My Own Jerusalem”, “Zion”, “House of Grace ”, Nyame Nsa”, “Aseda House”.
Ghana currently has a social housing problem due to many years of leadership inertia that is eating away at the very fiber of our existence as a people.
The Ghana Statistical Service estimated that Ghana had a deficit of 1.7 million housing units and was due to reach 2 million units by 2020 and therefore needed to build a minimum of 170,000 housing units per year for offset the deficit.
The executive secretary of the Ghana Real Estate Development Association (GREDA), Mr. Samuel Amegayibor, at a real estate forum organized by the Canada-Ghana Chamber of Commerce in Accra, however, gave a darker picture of the situation. when he said the total housing shortage would reach 5.7 million by the end of 2020.
Another report from Business World Ghana in 2012 indicated that around 5.5 million people live in slums and the population is expected to reach 7.1 million by 2020.
Various programs, which aimed to build affordable housing projects for the middle class and the so-called poor, largely did not serve the targeted interest groups.
For example, the affordable housing project launched by President Kuffour and spread across the country was put on hold for the eight years of the Atta Mills / Mahama administration.
Little progress was made before the return of the nuclear power plant to remove obstacles.
In addition, the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project, which started under the Mahama government and stalled on claims that the country was in short supply of 1,500 housing units against the planned 5,000 housing units, remains at the mercy Ghanaian scorching weather.
As all the complicity and political bickering continues, the common Ghanaian tenant is trapped at the mercy of landlords and rental agents who have taken advantage of the government and the politics of home procurement to conspire to charge fees. reduced prices with the rent control department is looking into.
The Rent Control Department has been a very passive institution as their oversight and regulatory roles are not fulfilled in the rental housing market, leaving Ghanaians to bear the brunt of government inaction.
I read an aspect of the Rent Act which says that rent should not be billed for more than 6 months…. And that owners who charge more than 6 months commit the illegality. However, the opposite remains the norm.
I believe if tenants were successful they would stick to the rule, but don’t be surprised that the same landlords come with an alibi saying there is an emergency room need.
Young, newly married couples looking to rent decent, self-contained affordable housing in so-called prime locations may have to cough something in the full range of GH 1,500 per month and above.
Homes that billed between GH250.00 ₵ and GH400.00 ₵ about 3 years or so, have surprisingly jumped to GH 700.00, GH 800.00 and more.
While all of this continues, the economic and income dynamics have not changed.
How do newly married couples raise such funds? You will probably be asked if you knew the price of a cement if you asked for a price reduction.
This same house may have been advanced in age and the investment already recovered and should be better described as “junk” in the literal sense of the word.
It seems to me that the cross-sectoral approach that had to be applied to stakeholders such as district assemblies, landowners, the ministry, etc. has never been used up to help bring sanity and order back to the rental market space.
Landowners and their agents unduly extort money from Ghanaians in the form of a price increase.
Hmmm! I wonder when this increase was passed.
According to the secretary of GREEDA, 50% of the Ghanaian population lives in substandard houses. He said that “all the houses you see, by human rescue standards, are not up to the task.”
Adding that “If you go to places like Abeka Lapaz, Chantan and McCarthy Hill, all the houses you see there are just houses but they don’t match the standard of living. He hasn’t made it yet.
So you can imagine how life will be for those who live there ”. The problems illustrated in these areas are the microcosm of the biggest housing crisis across the country, particularly in Accra.
Most of these high priced construction facilities lack the toilet and bath readiness.
However, some homeowners are renovating their older homes in an attempt to further increase their rental prices.
These same landlords, who often default on their property rates at meetings, would also often remind their tenants of this aspect of spending and the need to pay more.
The less talked about student hostels in higher education institutions, the better.
Students pay up to GHc 3,000 per year for a three-in-one room only to be told they have to pay for their utilities.
We also forget that these are the same Ghanaian parents whose wards attend schools.
In my opinion, if we had a ceiling price point with some categorization in terms of years, location, and other demographic scenarios, landowners, especially those with older homes, won’t charge more. of a certain amount because they would have recovered their investment on the building and deserves to be considered as “scrap” in the literal sense of the term.
Again, if the regulatory agencies are able to effectively fulfill their oversight mandate, it would provide further relief to Ghanaians.
There are other thorny bottleneck issues that the government needs to redouble its efforts with with land acquisition.
If one has to cough an amount of, say 20,000 for a parcel of land whose land measurement does not have a national standardized measurement, then there is great reason to be alarmed.
The standard measurement for a parcel of land in Ghana in its current form varies, and it is solely the prerogative of the landowners.
This unregulated market has placed ordinary Ghanaians at the mercy of predators in every value chain of our existence.
We wonder about the role of public institutions like the Lands Commission and the Ghana Standards Authority in the story.
Private finance and mortgage institutions should partner with the government with programs that alleviate hardship for Ghanaians, especially now that the Covid-19 pandemic has put a lot of pressure on Ghanaians.
I call for a cohesive and comprehensive national policy framework on affordable housing and rent that puts reason into the system.
On the emergency side, Parliament should replace Ghana’s current Moribund Rent Act (ACT 220) which was passed in 1963 and was largely ineffective with a new and better one.
In addition, the political will of the executive branch would help to address the existential threat to the security of Ghanaians due to the housing crisis.
As designated Minister for Works and Housing, the Hon. Francis Asenso-Boakye, is preparing to face the parliamentary audit committee, I hope that the honorable deputies will do us the public good by painting an accurate portrait of the situation on the ground gathered from their constituents and obtaining the right ones concrete answers from him on how he intends to increase the housing stock and solve the rental housing problems.
At this point, we want a bold, non-business as usual leader who would take all the risks and tough decisions that would lead to a shift in the looming eminent danger of the Ghanaian housing sector with a particular focus on the rental housing sector.
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Author Ebenezer Annang is the Executive Director of Our Community Focus (OCOF)
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