Dr Francis Kwesi Bondieuba, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Building Technology of the Kumasi Technical University has said solving the housing deficit canker in the country could only be achieved through effective collaboration with stakeholders.
He said qualitative and quantitative research into the industry can be of value addition to solve the housing problem.He said income levels of workers must also become a matter of consideration to enable the average Ghanaian be able to acquire such landed properties.
Dr Bondieuba, therefore moved for the establishment of a national housing Authority to regulate the housing sector and other land tenure issues
He was speaking at the Fifth National Policy Summit on the dubbed bridging the housing deficit: the role of State housing Corporation organized by the Ministry of Information at Takoradi in the Western Region.
The summit was under the theme: “Improving Performance in State Owned Enterprises and Agencies”.The Senior Lecturer said, restructuring current mortgage systems, subsidizes for the sector through site and services policy and using alternative sources of finance to develop the sector was imperative to halt the five in a room syndrome and achieve the international standard of two per room in the university.
Mr George Osei-Bimpeh, the Country Director of SEND Ghana and a panellist noted with concern the inequalities in the housing sector and proposed that the various district assemblies ventured into what was known in other countries as “Council Buildings” to develop houses for people to patronize.
He said the right to housing was a fundamental human right and that it was critical that the sector received the needed boost to deliver on this mandate and as well fulfil an international convention.
For his part, Mr Kwabena Ampofo Appiah, the managing Director of the State Housing Company Limited said the government was working on a comprehensive policy to address challenges bedevilling the housing needs of all Ghanaians.
Currently, the Ministry of Works and Housing was extending the bill to parliament for consideration and attention adding, “It is important to solve societal problems through good initiatives and policies”.
The National Policy Summit is a major flagship programme of the Ministry of Information and a Public Private initiative by Universal Merchant Bank to bring together policy makers and business leaders to explore mutual beneficial ways of achieving the nation’s objectives.