State Housing Board inaugurated
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Francis Asenso-Boakye, has inaugurated a nine-member board of the State Housing Company Limited, with a charge on them to fashion policies that will help the company to produce affordable housing for Ghanaians.
According to him, although the state housing company was providing affordable housing the majority of Ghanaians could not access such houses because they were not affordable.
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He, therefore, called on the board members to work to ensure that the majority of the working population could easily afford their own houses.
“I am charging this board to come up with policies that will let State Housing produce houses that Ghanaians can afford.
The houses being developed by you in the past four years, which they call affordable housing, is not affordable,” he said.
Ensure affordable houses
Mr. Asenso-Boakye who inaugurated the board in Accra yesterday, further urged the board members to focus on realising the President's objective of prioritising the provision of mass, secure and affordable housing for all Ghanaians.
The Board is under the chairmanship Oheneba Owusu Afriyie IV, with Mr. Kwabena Ampofo Appiah, Ms. Ofosua Amagyei, Ms. Sheila Bartels, Odaifio Welentsi III and Dr. Theresa Tuffour as members.
The rest are Mr. Tweneboa Kodua Fokuo, Dr. Maame Adwoa Gyekye-Andoh and Mr. Earl Ofori-Atta, all of whom are President’s nominees.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye described affordable housing as a situation where the majority of Ghanaians could spend about 30 per cent of their monthly income to pay for a mortgage to secure such houses.
“We want a situation where the majority of the working population of Ghanaians can leverage their pension fund and use part of their monthly salary to pay their mortgage so that they can own homes,” he said.
Meanwhile, the minister has commended the State Housing Company for providing good working conditions for staff and improved services for its clients.
Government’s support
Further, addressing the board members, he underscored the need for them to desist from interfering with the role of management as their functions were distinct.
“The management and board must work closely but your duties and responsibilities are distinctly different from that of management, he noted.
He, however, said the government was committed to assist the private sector to ensure affordable houses, noting that statistics indicated that about 60 per cent of Ghanaians could only access housing with support from the government.
Board members
Oheneba Owusu Afriyie, who spoke on behalf of the board, expressed its commitment to ensure affordable housing for all.
“We are mindful of the fact that the greater proportion of our populace struggle to find a place to lay their head. We will collaborate with the minister to ensure safe and affordable housing for Ghanaians,” he said.