Urban growth causes housing scare
Ghana last year crossed the 50 per cent mark in urban growth, showing an increase in the urban population than in the rural areas.
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In anticipation of the growth in urbanisation and household, analysts have suggested that one of the ways to address the housing crisis is to develop new growth centres and rejuvenate existing towns and cities.
It is in this vein that your authoritative Graphic Business is coming out with a special supplementary on the housing industry tomorrow, with a focus on the real estate industries and other service providers in the housing sector.
The supplement examines how to facilitate the flow of resources to the housing industry and also discusses the need for the housing policy, which is currently in a draft form, to be approved and implemented.
It also looks at the collaboration between informal housing groups and public institutions and how the services provided by the private sector and financial institutions have not reached the low income households and the homeless.
The Graphic Business housing supplement, particularly, proposes solutions on how to reverse the housing deficit and improve the human settlement environment.
Some of the participating companies include Rabdah Company who are into the sale of building materials and already-mixed concrete, Noble Realty, a real estate company, HFC Bank, which is into home finance, Afariwaa Royal Homes, also a real estate company.
Other participating companies in the supplement are Statements Limited, an advertising and marketing firm, Coral Paint which distributes and sells industrial and residential paint products, Phoenix Insurance- insurance company, Vanguard Properties, Myron Homes, Regimanuel Estates and Buena Vista Homes, all real estate companies, and Millux Andorful who are into the construction, sale and distribution of building materials.
An infrastructure expert, Mr Charles Boakye, observed that housing involves a package of services, including the land services, public facilities, structures, recreational facilities and institutions, all located in towns and cities.
According to him, the 2000 Population and Housing Census reported the existence of about 3.88 million dwelling units in Ghana, less than half of which are classified as houses.
As much as 50 per cent of all dwelling units were constructed with poor quality mud bricks and earth, mostly with thatched roofing and poor floor construction materials.
In addition, 74,000 kiosks and containers housed several hundred thousands people, and a large number of people in urban areas sleep on pavements, walkways and on streets.
The report added that Ghana had 3.7 million households, and growing at 2 per cent, it was expected to reach 6 million by 2025. That is 2.3 million new households will be generated, each expected to be sheltered in a housing unit.
This is because at the moment, the only institution in Ghana that is charged with infrastructure research, the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI), is struggling to survive. Though severely under-resourced, it is turning out useful clay bricks and pozzolana cement products that support the industry and lower overall building costs.
The HFC Bank, originally established to spearhead mortgage financing, is scaling-up commercial bank, owing to the fall in housing supply, inadequate construction finance and high cost of mortgages.
