Government of Ghana in Partnership With Private Developers To Construct 20,000 Affordable Housing Units

The Government of Ghana in its effort to reduce the housing deficit in the country has formed a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with the members of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association to develop 20,000 affordable housing units across the country.

The housing units to be developed by the private developers are expected to meet the demand of the low-to-middle income households and should be made more affordable to target all the public servants in the country.

This was unveiled by the president of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association, Mr Patrick Ebo Bonful, during the GREDA Annual CEO's Breakfast Meeting with the theme ''Reducing Ghana's Housing Deficit–Advocating for Government Intervention'' at the Fiesta Royale Hotel in Accra.

Mr Patrick Ebo said the Executive Council is currently reviewing the commercial contract with the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Works and Housing for the development of 20,000 affordable housing units across the country.

Speaking after he was sworn into office as the new president of the association, Mr Patrick Ebo charged GREDA members to walk with the government in the quest to provide affordable housing units for the low-to middle-income earners in the country.

He said, ''We will also reinvigorate our project committee by bringing more members on board. We would like to see another GREDA estate constructed during the term of this Executive Council,'' 

The partnership will require the government to provide lands and tax incentives to private developers in order to be able to produce affordable housing units. The housing units will cost about $25,000 for a three-bed apartment depending on the location.

Meanwhile, there has been a swift increase in the general price level of goods and services including the rising cost of building materials. This, Mr Patrick Ebo, said poses a greater challenge to affordable housing delivery and appeals to the government to come out with sustainable solutions to counter the menace.

He however called on the members of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association to patronize the use of locally produced materials for the construction of housing units in order to cut down construction costs.

This, he believes is the surest way of cutting down construction costs and eventually making homes less expensive for the average earners in the country.

It is worth noting that the over 2 million housing deficit has now been reduced to about 1.8 million housing units, this is according to the Ghana Statistical Service in the Population and Housing Census survey in 2021.

According to data available, the housing deficit in the country has seen a forward look since the deficit has been reduced from 2,771,961 units in 2010 to 1,845,115 units in 2021.

The Ghana Statistical Service in its 2021 Population and Housing survey reported that there are over one million vacant housing units nationwide at the time the interview was conducted. This represents 12.7% of all housing units in the country.