Govt targets 200,000 homes annually to bridge housing deficit gap - Ofori-Atta

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has said some 200,000 homes which are to be built annually is projected to bridge the national housing deficit.

This comes after figures from the Ministry of Works and Housing revealed Ghana's national housing deficit reached some 2 million units in 2019.

According to Ken Ofori-Atta, the intervention is necessary to afford the low- middle income Ghanaian decent and affordable housing schemes.

Speaking at the launch of the National Housing Mortgage Fund (NHMF) Estates in Tema on Monday October 26, 2020, Ken Ofori-Atta said, "to address this, government must continue to confront the housing issues in the country in a manner that matches the pace of urbanisation and demographic change. This will mean some 200,000 homes when we are at full throttle of building affordable housing".

"We must recognise that successive governments have implemented various housing scheme to address deficit and propel economic growth, while these schemes have been helpful, they turned not to be sustained in a desired manner because of the lack of follow through from one government to another, high cost of inputs which is sometimes about 50 percent of the construction and infrastructure cost which has turned to 30 percent of our homes, land tenure system, lack of standardisation and financing issues."

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has commissioned some 204 houses contructed by the Tema Development Company as part of the National Mortgage Finance Initiative situated in the Tema Community 22 enclave.

The initiative comes as part of efforts by government towards providing affordable and decent housing to Ghanaians across districts within a period.

Works and Housing Minister, Samuel Atta Akyea predicted that President Akufo-Addo's and his admnistration will leave a lasting housing legacy between year 2021-2025.





Mortgage schemes

A National Housing and Mortgage Fund (NHMF) has been set up by government under two components, the National Mortgage Scheme (NMS), and the Affordable Housing Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), which is a rent-to-own scheme that would enable individuals and public sector workers to own an affordable house at an underwritten mortgage rate of 10 to 12 percent by the participating banks

The intervention aims at reducing mortgage rates by over 60 percent, compared to the average market rate of 28 percent. In addition, based on the building specification, the starting price for houses are GH¢140,000 and GH¢90,000 for standard two-bedroom and one-bedroom respectively.

The Affordable Housing REITs is promoting the rent-to-own scheme with only monthly rent payments; and after a period, the occupant has the option to own it. The rent-to-own scheme will eliminate the burdening two-year rent advance system. It is designed to give low-income workers an opportunity to rent and eventually own homes. The focus will be on apartments and inner-city rehabilitation.



The goal is for the Affordable Housing REITs to provide the off-take for the rest of the TDC affordable housing units in the enclave, to provide more decent homes through the Rent-to-own Scheme for Ghanaians upon completion by TDC. Interested public servants have been asked to apply for consideration.