The Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye has disclosed plans by government to explore the possibility of prospective homebuyers to use their Tier 2 and 3 Pensions fund as initial deposit to support their mortgages plans.
The Minister observed that the need to provide access to housing for Ghanaians requires putting in place sustainable policies and programmes aimed at ensuring that the issue of Affordable Housing no longer becomes a myth, but a possibility.
Delivering his address at the 2021 Business 24 Real Estate Conference in Accra today, the Works and Housing Minister said despite the enormous economic impact associated with the housing sector, successive governments have not been able to provide housing that meets the needs and financial capacities of majority of Ghanaians requiring some level of support to access housing, adding that there is a great disparity between housing cost and income level of people, which raises the question of access and affordability.
For this reason, the Works and Housing Minister stressed the need for a deeper collaboration between government and the private sector to create the needed opportunities to make it possible for majority of the citizenry to have access to decent, safe, secure, quality, and affordable housing.
“The government’s new affordable programme will involve an appropriate mix of public and private sector investments to meet the financial capacity of the average Ghanaian as well as our urban population to access safe and secured affordable housing”. The Minister added.
On the need to meet the needs and financial capacity of low-to-middle income earners, the Minister indicated plans by the Ministry to collaborate with appropriate authorities to scale up the National Housing and Mortgage Fund that was piloted in 2020 to stimulate the demand-side of the housing market and create more access to affordable housing for the low-to-middle income earners.
The National Housing and Mortgage Finance Scheme was established to provide extensive construction of residential housing across the country to promote social equity and stimulate the economy.
The Scheme was also intended to ensure that low to middle income earners have access to mortgages to buy homes as well as address the high cost of financing for the construction of residential homes for large segment of Ghanaians.
Housing, the Minister indicated, is an important instrument for economic development, since it has the potential to boost employment generation and it contributes to the manufacturing sector through the production of building materials and furnishing, as well as the provision of both construction and mortgage financing.
The Minister further appealed to stakeholders in the housing sector to embrace government’s instituted affordable housing framework and partner with banks and other financial institutions to invest more to wipe out the prevalent housing deficit, adding that “it is only through this that we can reach out to majority of our citizens and positively affect the lives of the larger population”.
The maiden edition of the Real Estate Conference brought together key industry players, professionals, and experts to engage in discussions that seek to match the various challenges of affordable housing development to workable solutions.
Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana
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