Ghana's housing deficit now 2 million units - Asenso-Boakye

According to him, it is currently estimated that 60 per cent of the country’s population would need some form of government assistance to help them improve housing in the country.

But he added that even with the subsidy from government, some 35 per cent would not be able to access housing, reports graphic.com.gh.

He made this known during the maiden discussion series christened, “Home Ownership Series”, and initiated by the First National Bank, Glitz Africa Living, and GLICO in Accra.

He explained that the government recognizes the enormity of the housing challenge that the country faces and is bent on working at it.

Francis Asenso-Boakye further explained that government will set up a National Housing Authority (NHA) to lead the supply side of the housing market with the NHA not only serving as a regulator but will be responsible for planning, developing, and managing Ghana’s housing development.

“Ultimately, the objective for setting up the NHA is to decouple the planning, development, and management of housing projects of the ministry from its core mandate of formulating, coordinating, and monitoring the implementation of policies.

“Interventions in the past have been piecemeal, resulting in the country struggling with a housing deficit, currently in excess of two million housing units. Sadly, government-led housing projects suffer during the implementation stage, causing them to stall or be abandoned when there is a change in government,” he said.

The maiden edition of the Home Ownership Series, a new platform created to deepen national discourse on how to solve the national housing problem, brought together stakeholders and policymakers in the industry to deliberate on the challenges in the sector and to suggest pragmatic solutions for the issues.