The contribution and challenges faced by private developers in addressing the housing deficit in Ghana

Abstract

The importance of housing in the economic and social development of a nation cannot be over emphasised. Housing is the key element in the generation of economic growth and development. The state of housing has had strong positive impact on the growth and development of society. Ghana has suffered for many years in trying to solve the housing situation. The inability of governments to resolve the housing challenges has resulted in a housing deficit of well over one million houses. By this reason the private developers have been sought to supplement the provision of housing to address the situation. However, the development of houses by private developers has been limited by number of challenges and these have affected their performances in the housing industry. Therefore, it was against this background the study was carried out to examine the contribution and challenges of private developers in addressing the housing deficit in Ghana. The study employed questionnaire survey and purposive sampling technique. The data were analyzed using Average Mean Score, Cross-tabulation and Frequency analysis. The findings from the study revealed that; consistent change of government, inadequate mortgage finance, defective land tenure system and among others are the major factors influencing housing deficit in Ghana. Whilst high cost of land, delay in obtaining building permit and lack of mortgage finance are also the major challenges hindering the performance o f private developers in addressing the housing deficit in Ghana. Hence Government provision of land from the land banks, streamlining the land tenure system by proper implementation of Land Administration Project (LAP), assisting the developers to access mortgage loan at low rate and speeding up the process of obtaining building perm it are recommended to help address the housing deficit in Ghana.