The affordable housing units being put up by the government to provide accommodation to middle income earners are no more affordable, as a GHS25,000 price tag has now ballooned to GHS220,000 for a two bedroom unit, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, Freda Prempeh, has said.

The affordable housing project was started under the John Agyekum Kufuor-led NPP administration and continued by the John Evans Mills and John Mahama NDC administrations.

The project is aimed at reducing Ghana’s 1.7 million housing deficit.

But speaking on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Thursday, 5 October 2017 Ms Prempeh bemoaned the high cost of the units and assured government is consulting with stakeholders to address the challenges.

She said: “The NPP government started the affordable housing project as far back as 2005. We could not complete the housing before we went to opposition. Unfortunately, our predecessors came back and could also not complete those that we left behind.

“The [units] at Borteyman, which they tried to complete through Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), now the price of a two-bedroom apartment – which initially was going to be sold for GHS25,000 – is being sold for GHS220,000 and that is no more affordable.

“When you drive around Accra, you come across a lot of apartments, luxury homes a lot of bungalows wailing and crying for buyers so sometimes I ask myself, is the issue really with the affordability of the bungalow or unit or apartments, or it is about the housing deficit itself because I have personally, through the Ministry, commissioned plenty houses but they are still finding it difficult to sell.”