National Homeownership Fund CEO Prosper Hoetu has called upon financial institutions to help grow the mortgage market.
He contended that an active mortgage market will have more products being marketed tf more workers to access.
Speaking at a thought leadership forum on the issue " Blueprint to Brick: Making Affordable Housing Work" organized by Media General on Tuesday, September 23, he revealed that financing is the greatest challenge the housing sector faces.
"Grow the mortgage market. to allow competition to allow the range of products to be marketed in order to give Ghanaian workers access," Mr Hoetu added.
He clarified that developers look for cheap resources in order to enable them to build cheap housing.
In addressing the housing issue, he continued, there must be a statutory fund that will be allocated towards housing.
" Fulfilling the demand and supply requirements financing, that is the bottom, the developer needs resources to invest in housing."
"There should be some decicayted f8nds for that. We have woefully fallen short of doing so, with social housing programs for the poor, we must conscientiously, as a state, fund," he added.
For his part, S.O. Afram, Professor of Architecture, Department of Architecture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), appealed to city planners to consider the poor when they plan cities.
He explained that, for instance, the government is constructing affordable housing in the cities, and they can also encompass the poor in their requirement by embracing the compound house model, where the poor can as well afford.
"When we design for the city, we should also design for the poor," Said during a thought leadership conference on the subject " Blueprint to Brick: Making Affordable Housing Work" presented by Media General on Tuesday, September 23.
He continued that compound house is the best that we can utilize for low-income.
"There is security. always when you are there, there is somebody, so nobody can go and steal. If somebody steals, then it is a resident thief; they can get him," he clarified.
Professor S.O. Afram also emphasized that the affordability of land is one of the biggest problems facing the housing sector in Ghana.
He clarified that even if some people have the money, accessibility is a problem.
"COST OF LAND AND ACCESSABILITY, you can't even get to the land in Accra and when got to it you pay extra."
The Works and Housing Minister, Kenneth Gilbert Adjei, assured the people of Ghana that the government of Mahama is determined to tackle the housing deficit challenge in Ghana.
In his view, numerous interventions have been made as part of the reset programme by the government to address the housing challenge.
President Mahama is recalled to have made public that there are proposals to launch a Low-Cost Housing Project with the aim of catering for the housing demands of government and public servants. The project is included in a bigger agenda aimed at promoting affordable housing, raising the standard of living,
Speaking at a thought leadership forum on the issue " Blueprint to Brick: Making Affordable Housing Work" sponsored by Media General. On Tuesday, September 23, the Minister swore that the housing needs of Ghanaian people call for joint, immediate action to be met.
He assured that the government of Mahama is dedicated to the solution of affordable Housing for all Ghanaians.
The Housing shortfall requires "Innovative and sustainable solutions," he swore
"Housing priority and collective effort. Low-cost housing is what Mahama government under the situation is working to build. A Ghanaian deserves a decent, safe place to call home. I think with collective effort, President Mahama will bring this vision to Ghanaians," he added.
He further added that government has outlined a series of steps to address the housing issue.
We have implemented a number of measures to address the housing problems," he added.
The measures, including the security services housing scheme and the national rental support scheme, are focused on a pragmatic intervention to close the affordability gap and address the deficit.