200,000 units required to fix Ghana’s housing deficit

The Chief Executive Officer of Danywise Estate and Construction, Mr Frank Aboagye Danyansah has called for active private sector participation in the affordable housing project to help bridge the widening housing deficits facing the country.

He said with the country’s housing shortfall is projected at 1.7 million units, and expected to soar to two million by 2018, implying that government would have to build 190,000 to 200,000 units each year for the next 10 years to bridge the gap.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday, Mr Danyansah warned that the country risks a housing crisis in the next three years if policymakers fail to clearly outline measures towards averting the situation.

There is inevitable need for managers of the economy to start from the urban centres he said, where the demand for housing is fast outstripping its supply at a rate of 17.5 per cent annually.

“If government does not support the private sector, it will be difficult for us to put up affordable structures,” he said.

He noted that the private sector is heavily dependent on private funding, which comes with high interest cost.

He expressed worry that most housing put up by foreign developers does not meet local needs and the teeming middle class as the foreigners are usually influenced by their culture and background to satisfy the taste of upper-class citizenry.

He called for the swift passage of the Ghana Real Estate Development Fund into law to enable stakeholders in the sector access funding at relatively lower cost in order to augment Ghana’s housing policy requirement.

Mr Danyansah suggested the need for the government to engage the services of domestic developers in policy design of housing, a move many agreed would create jobs for Ghanaians and retain profit in the country to bolster national economy.

He observed that, because most people are unable to meet the current prohibitive mortgage terms, it would be prudent for government to partner with local developers in all the states of estate development for a successful affordable housing.