Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye has expressed government’s resolve to set up a National Housing Authority. The Authority will help in dealing with the 2million housing deficit in the country.

According to him, sixty per cent of Ghanaians will need government support in the form of subsidy to acquire their own houses.

In a bid to bridge the housing deficit, he revealed that government has taken the decision to set up the new authority.

Speaking at the launch of the maiden edition of Home Ownership Series, Mr. Asenso indicated that fragmented interventions have resulted in the housing deficit.

“Interventions in the past have been piecemeal resulting in the country struggling with the housing deficit currently in excess of two million housing units”.

To address the situation, Mr Asenso averred that there is the “need for a concerted government policy direction”. This, according to the Housing Minister, should focus on “bridging current institutional gap to provide mass subsidized housing”.

He further explained that the Authority will target 60 percent of the population in the short to medium term. Also, it will cater for the remaining “35 per cent in the long term as our economic situation improves”.

“The government recognizes the real challenges. We need to critically look at the general institutional architecture that drives the housing sector.

“For this reason, the NPP government plans to set up a national housing authority to lead the supply side of the housing market.”

First National Bank to assist government in tackling housing deficit

On his part, the Executive Director in charge of Home Loans at First National Bank, Mr Kojo Addo-Kufuor, disclosed that the bank is prepared to assist the government in tackling the housing deficits the country is saddled with at the moment.

“The bank stands ready to partner government in its implementation going forward”.

Prior to this, Mr. Addo-Kufuor had intimated that the bank was considering helping Ghanaians in their home ownership journey. He explained that the bank will help Ghanaians with “a holistic experience in the home ownership journey”.

As such, they had enhanced their “home loans offering to enable us help many who want to make that move from being a tenant to a homeowner”. Mr. Addo-Kuffuor revealed that the bank has engaged some developers to make the properties affordable.

“At first National Bank, we’re here to help Ghanaians to experience the awesome feeling of having a place you can call your own. We are here to offer all the help we can so that many more people can get to realise their dream of home ownership.”

GREDA laments delay in National Housing Authority

The Ghana Real Estate Developers Association had earlier bemoaned the unwillingness of successive governments to establish a National Housing Authority.

According to the Executive Director of GREDA, Samuel Amegayibor, the establishment of the Authority will help sanitise the industry. Moreover, he indicated that it will equally help facilitate the overall development of the sector.

“The National Housing Policy was launched in 2015. The document in page 27 talks about the intention of the policy in regulating the housing industry.

“You can find out from the Ministry of Works and Housing… what has been achieved in terms of a milestone to get this document fully implemented? Not much”.