Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Let revised programme change affordable housing sector

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday launched the re­vised National Affordable Hous­ing Programme at Pokuase-Afia­man in the Ga West Municipality of the Greater Accra.

Describing the programme as “revised” means there had been previous programmes that have not met expectation.

This is not in dispute because the country established the State Housing Corporation in 1956 as its first attempt to provide low-cost housing for civil servants and other low-income earners and the SHC built housing estates in Accra, Kumasi, and other major cities to meet hous­ing shortage.

Other programmes have followed since such as the Accelerated Housing Scheme in the 1960s; the National Housing Authority in the 1970s; and the Affordable Housing Programme and Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) low-cost housing loans and flats for its members in the 1980s.

Besides, the National Housing Policy was launched in 1991 and the 2000s have had their own history, including the Saglemi af­fordable housing project which begun in 2012.

With the exception of the SHC, the rest of the pro­grammes before Saglemi were discontinued and Saglemi is yet to be completed to show its success.

The government says it will require about $46million to complete the off-site infrastruc­ture works, including water, electricity and storm drains to mitigate flooding there.

Besides, a further $68million will be needed to complete the building and other essential on-site infrastructure works like waste holding bay, sewage treatment plant and economic and civic infrastructure such a school, a clinic and a shop.

The Akufo-Addo administra­tion says the revised project is a testament of its unwavering commitment to address the pressing housing needs of the hard-working Ghanaians.

This is a good reason be­cause it will help increase the spread of affordable housing units across the country as it is going to provide 8000 units at Pokuase-Afiaman and 6000 at Dedesua in the Ashanti Region.

However, the question is, “Is Saglemi going to continue while the revised programme runs?”

We hope the acclaimed commitment of the government to housing would be stoked towards completing existing programmes and the ones taking off.

Housing is one of the basic necessities of life, with the others including food, water, clothing and health care.

Humans need these to survive before they crave for other things like prestige and vehicles to boost their lives.

Housing can be any dwelling place though but in modern times housing should be a decent structure made of quality materials and has facilities like kitchen, water, toilet and elec­tricity, as well as access for easy movement around.

To get all these is difficult for most members of the public, which is why governments across the globe step in to pro­vide housing units for categories of their people, usually the vul­nerable like low-income groups.

As already stated, in Ghana, successive governments have attempted affordable housing projects but amid a number of challenges that deny access to those who actually should own the housing units.

These include the high cost of land, which makes it difficult for developers to build homes that are truly affordable to low- and moderate-income earners, a lack of financing options, regula­tory barriers and hijacking by politicians.

In the face of these, it takes rather the rich or high-income earners and politicians to acquire these housing units.

We hope the “revised” pro­gramme has come to revise the system to make it easy for at least middle-income earners to acquire affordable houses in the country.