Hon. Abdulai Abanga has assured Ghanaians of government’s commitment to increase access to affordable housing, to reduce housing deficit.
Affordable housing projects in Ghana had some deflating toll in the 2021 statistics.
Referring from the 2021 Population and Housing census report, Hon. Abanga indicated that the housing delivery system has failed to meet the needs of the low-to-middle income group.
The facts were that the ministry presented strides of growth over the medium term. It had estimated level of the housing deficit reduced from 2 million to 1.8 million affordable housing units.
He made the statement at the 14th Ghana Property Awards held at Accra with the theme, “Sustainable Architecture In Ghana’s Housing Mix.”
It hinted that close to 12.7 percent of the total structures counted were vacant housing units. This gave a clear showing that our affordable housing supply has outpriced the average person in Ghana.Clearly, it failed to address the housing needs of a significant segment of our society.
Hon Abanga said;
It is for this reason that the government has prioritised the delivery of affordable housing units over the medium term.
It also further desires to institute a pragmatic approach to address the affordability gap and increase access to various affordable housing thereby reducing the housing deficit.
He said the Ministry plans to create a good environment to induce private sector investment. It also intends to engender the mobilisation capacity of the not-for-profit sector towards meeting the needs of lower-income households.
He further revealed the superior strategy of the government is to secure land banks. Also, it intends to provide the requisite infrastructure services to the sites.
The government also intends to designate enclaves, to leverage private sector investment for affordable housing construction.
We intend to establish the Home Ownership Fund to provide Ghana Cedi-denominated and credible mortgages to enable average Ghanaians, especially public servants, to afford the housing units when they have been delivered.
It is only through this that we can reach out to the majority of our citizens and positively affect the lives of the larger population, he explained.
Mr Abanga noted for that reason, the Ministry of Works and Housing have started the process to establish a Ghana Housing Authority.
This will have the mandate to regulate, plan, develop and manage affordable housing developments in the country.
Read also: Ghanaians Shower Praises On J.Ayew For Magnificent Performance Against S.Korea
He added that the objective of setting up the Authority is to decouple the planning, development, and manage affordable housing projects. This objective is in line with the Ministry’s core mandate of formulating, coordinating, and monitoring the implementation of policies.
This will streamline the transition from policy formulation, coordination, and monitoring through to the successful implementation of government-led housing program.
Sadly, the government-led housing projects suffer during the implementation stage, causing them to stall or be abandoned when there is a change in government.
As a government, we have resolved to lead the process to engage key stakeholders within the sector to set up the Ghana Housing Authority and also find ingenious ways of creating an enabling environment, especially for the private sector.
Hon. Banga is confident that lessons learned through some of these engagements will offer ideas. These ideas will be needed to help to reduce the housing deficit which is currently facing the country.
Comments are closed.