Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Koans Estate and building consultant, Prof Kofi Anokye, says government must take blame for the housing deficit in the country which was recently highlighted in the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC).
A preliminary report from the Ghana Statistical Service on the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) revealed that about 2.1 million structures are metal containers, kiosks and structures; representing twenty percent of the 10.7 million structures listed in the Population and Housing Census.
Reacting to this report, the building consultant noted that this fact was glaringly clear even before the report made it known.
Speaking to Happy FM’s Don Prah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show, he stated that successive governments must take the blame for the housing deficits.
“The housing deficit was glaringly clear before even the PHC revealed it. Apart from former President Rawlings who did something towards developing infrastructure and housing through SSNIT houses, all of them haven’t done anything”.
Prof. proposed that to fix the housing deficit problem, government must collaborate with private estate developers to build affordable housing for Ghanaians.
“Fortunately for Ghana, we have experts in real estate development who have international reputation. Why don’t you sit down with them to partner with them in building houses for Ghanaians; giving these developers incentives so that they will dive in. But they don’t do that and at the end of the day, people cannot secure affordable housing”, he stated.
According to the report, “The 2021 PHC is the first time that data was collected on all structures regardless of use. Previous censuses only collected information on structures used for residential purposes. The 2010 PHC recorded 3.4 structures for residential use, which is 2.5 million less the 5.9 counted in 2021”.
The provisional results also pegged Ghana’s population at 30.8 million.
