An Executive Council Member of the Ghana Real Estates Development Association (GREDA), Mr Eric Ebo Acquah, has revealed that housing deficit in the country is a challenge for city dwellers.
According to him, in pursuit for greener pasture, rural-urban migration has become the order of the day leading to overpopulation. Mr Acquah explained that as a result of the movement, some individuals are left stranded and reside in kiosks due to lack of affordable housing.
“I believe that housing deficit is a primary problem for the city dwellers. When you go to the towns and villages, there are houses there that nobody stays in because everything is concentrated in the cities so everybody moves to the cities”.
Mr Eric Ebo Acquah
To rectify the problem Mr Acquah suggested that government should invest in the railway system. This, he explained, will help citizens who reside in the rural areas have easier means to commute back to their homes without having to stay in the urban areas they visit.
“We must look at our transportation system. Because if you build 100,000 new units in Prampram and the people have to commute to Accra each day, there is no railway system that connects Prampram to Accra. We have to find ways to connect the towns and village with trains.
“Once you do that, people can live 50km and come to work without spending so many hours on the way”.
Mr Eric Ebo Acquah
Reconsider salaries of workers in the country
On his part, Chairman of Comet Properties Limited, Nana Odeneho Kyeremateng, revealed that the issue of housing deficit can be addressed provided government takes a critical look at the salary levels of workers.
Nana Odeneho Kyeremateng indicated that the wage level in the country is too low to enable many workers afford a decent accommodation. He explained that an upward adjustment in salaries can be a catalyst to dealing with the housing challenges.
“…and then look at our salaries. I am not an economist in that sense or the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, they [workers] must earn income according to whatever they’ve worked. Whatever they earn here, it is too low averagely. Not everybody can buy a house and not everybody can build a house”.
Nana Odeneho Kyeremateng
Mr Kyeremateng also admonished government not to relegate a vital responsibility such as addressing housing deficit in the hands of the private sector.
“Government should play a major role. Put funds into a wholesale holder, who will then give it out to the mortgagees so citizens can get access to the funds”.
Nana Odeneho Kyeremateng
The issue of affordable housing is lost on most people in the country. Nana Odeneho Kyeremateng, earlier in September this year, revealed that policies put in place by the government to address the issue of housing deficit have not been completely successful.
He opined that despite the State Housing, introduced by former President Dr Kwame Nkrumah helped certain areas including Cantonments, Labone, it weakened due to economic challenges the country faced in the 1970s.
Following this, Nana Odeneho Kyeremateng maintained that government must play a role in funding housing and not relegate power to the private sector to create affordable housing.
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