The demand for accommodation in the Sunyani Municipality has exceeded supply in recent years as a result of insufficient decent housing in relation to population increase, particularly in the Sunyani township and its environs.

The situation has gradually sky-rocketed the cost of accommodation because landlords have cashed in and are charging exorbitant rents.

Consequently, cases of misunderstanding and disagreements between landlords and tenants in the Municipality keep on rising day in, day out.

Mr Murphy Obeng Twumasi, Higher Executive Officer at the Rent Control Department in Sunyani, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) affirmed that applications for settlement of accommodation-related complaints received by the Department had increased in recent years.

Available statistics on complaints lodged at the Department by landlords /landladies and tenants from January 2009 to December 2012 indicated a steady increment annually.

Interestingly, tenants’ complaints out-numbered those of landlords during the period.

In 2009, 136 tenants lodged complaints as against 107 by landlords and landladies. Complaints from 188 tenants and 128 landlords/landladies were recorded in 2010, 193 tenants and 191 landlords/landladies in 2011, whiles 239 tenants and 165 landlords/landladies lodged complaints with the Department in 2012.

The aggregate of tenants’ complaints within the period under consideration is 756, whilst that of landlords/ladies is 591, representing a total of 1,347 rent cases handled by the Department within the four-year period.

The total complaints in 2009 was 243 but increased to 316 in 2010, signifying a 30.04 per cent rise while a total of 384 in 2011 implied 21.5 per cent increase over the 2010 figure. Between 2011 and 2012 the percentage increase was 5.2 because 2012 had 404 cases.

That more complaints came from landlords/landladies within the period should not be a matter of surprise because standard decent accommodation has become a hot but scarce commodity in the Municipality.

Mr Twumasi explained that reasons mostly assigned by the landlords/landladies were recovery of possession and nuisance while some tenants also abscond, whereas the tenants’ complaints usually centred on recovery of rent advance, inducing tenants to quit and unlawful increase in rent by landlords and landladies.

He explained that inducing a tenant to quit means a landlord or landlady’s attempt to eject an occupant to take a more exorbitant rent from a prospective tenant.

The situation inures to the advantage of landlords/landladies but to the disadvantage of tenants and prospective tenants, he added.

This is because most of the landlords/landladies have taken advantage of the higher demand and limited supply of housing units to inhumanely increase their rents arbitrarily.

It might be interesting to note but sad to hear some of the unfair practices and dealings by some inconsiderate landlords/landladies in the Municipality. They take advantage of anxious prospective tenants by inducing them to commit their monies in the form of rent advance to either refurbish old buildings or complete their new houses for rent, but later give the facility to a higher bidder and refund the first bidder’s amount.

The arbitrary increase in rent resulting in yearly increases in complaints by landlords/landladies and tenants is obviously the result of many people migrating to the Sunyani Municipality either for educational purposes or economic reasons.

It is conjectured that about 80 per cent of migrants to the Municipality annually are tertiary students, whilst the rest could be economic migrants working for Newmont Gold Ghana Limited (NGGL) Ahafo Mine at Kenyase in the Asutifi North District, as well as other categories of migrant workers.

Currently the Municipality and its adjoining Sunyani-West District are hosting four tertiary institutions.

They are the Catholic University College of Ghana (CUCG) and the Ideas University College (IUC), both located at Fiapre in Sunyani West District, Sunyani Polytechnic and University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), all located in Sunyani.

It is worthy to note that the location of UENR became a matter of contention between the Sunyani Traditional Council and the Traditional Authorities of Fiapre sometime before the institution was inaugurated in 2012.

Both parties claimed the University was located on their stool lands, which is an issue for government, Office of Stool Lands and Survey Department to resolve amicably for peaceful co-existence to prevail in the area.

Effectively the issue of accommodation scarcity began when the Sunyani Polytechnic, presently with a student population of 4,433 comprising 3,114 men and 1,319 women was upgraded from a Technical Institute to Polytechnic in 1997.

A source at the Planning Unit of Sunyani Polytechnic confirmed to the GNA that it has accommodation for only 895 students and the rest are all lodging in private hostels.

In view of this, a lot of sub-standard hostels have sprung up at the Sunyani Light Industrial Area (popularly known as Magazine) which is located directly opposite the Polytechnic for students to rent.

The UENR now has about 160 pioneer students pursuing courses in Natural Resources and Engineering but because it has the capacity to accommodate up to 600 students, the accommodation challenge is not a problem to the students currently.

The CUCG which became operational in January 2003 with 50 students now has about 4,500 students and a greater percentage of them are being housed in private hostels within the Municipality, while all the students of IUC about 300, now reside in private hostels.

Mr Charles Adomah of CHADOMMO Ventures, a Real Estate Agency in Sunyani, told the GNA that he commenced business about 10 years ago and the pressure on the company at the beginning of each academic year in September/October has kept increasing.

He disclosed that a single-room in shared compound house is GH¢40.00 monthly, saying that one could get a single room at GH¢30.00 but only in an unattractive location.

Mr Adomah said a self-contained single room, depending on the finishing, ranged between GH¢60.00 and GH¢100.00, while a two-bed room and a hall, also depending on the finishing could be either GH¢150.00 or GH¢200.00 to GH¢300.00 a month.

In addition to the NGGL workers resident in Sunyani since 2004 when the company commenced business, the coming into operation of the Brong-Ahafo Regional Hospital in Sunyani has also compounded the situation.

Dr Fulgentius Dery, Medical Superintendent of the Sunyani Municipal Hospital told the GNA that the institution has staff strength of 235, including about 105 Nurses.

The hospital could provide official accommodation for only three senior staff, a Doctor, the Pharmacist and the Administrator.

The challenge is no different at the Brong-Ahafo Regional Hospital said Dr. Jacob Abebrese, the Medical Director.

He confirmed to the GNA that with a workforce of about 1,000 the institution has the capacity to provide official accommodation for only 10 per cent of the number.

Dr Abebrese lamented that the situation was having a toll on the finances of the hospital because management had no alternative than to rent private accommodation for critical staff at a high cost.

Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, the immediate past Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, on numerous occasions said during public gatherings that Brong-Ahafo Region is blessed with abundant natural resources including land.

In his view, the availability of land provided the basic enabling environment for the establishment of agro-processing industries and, therefore, investors should come and do business in the Region.

Now the challenge of accessing decent accommodation in the Sunyani Municipality is a signal and opportunity for real estate developers to extend their investments beyond Accra, Tema and Kumasi to Sunyani for the construction of affordable houses since there is a great demand for it.

The economy in the Municipality has improved, with the students coming to town to patronize street-side food vendors, fast food joints, drinking spots and night clubs – and the taxi drivers are also having a field day.

By Nana Osei Kyeretwie