Key points in the Ghana Urban Housing Sector Profile Graham Tipple PhD MRTPI

The Profiling Process Being rolled out across the Global South; Uses local consultants and an international consultant; Participatory (stakeholder workshop inputs); Covers the six inputs to housing; land, finance, infrastructure, construction, building materials and the regulatory framework; Adds housing supply, demand and the market.

Introduction to the Profile The profile is based on Interviews with major stakeholders; Detailed reports of the major sectors contributing to housing by: –Ohene Sarfoh (Regulatory framework and main actors) –Samuel Biitir (Land and Finance) –Oteng Ababio (Infrastructure) –Irene Addo (Construction industry)

Introduction to the Profile This profile is also based on (cont’d) The best available data, especially GLSS 5 and government statistics Local and international publications Three stakeholder workshops at commencement (May 2010), first draft (September, 2010) and final draft (May 2011) A specially commissioned sample survey of 332 urban households in the four largest cities –Led by Emmanuel Abeka

Introduction to the Profile: issues of definition The profile concentrates most attention on the majority of households which need low-cost housing and the housing which provides appropriate accommodation Elsewhere, these would be in the informal sector and slums

The key players in housing The majority of all housing in urban Ghana is provided by individuals in collaboration with small-scale, local contractors They obtain their land from traditional community leaders (mainly chiefs) There are very few squatters in Ghana

The key players in housing The formal sector actors provide only a few thousand dwellings a year targeted at the small but growing middle class and high-income clients.

The key players in housing Some NGOs on a small scale. Co-operatives have had only minor success. SDI affiliates are becoming important at the bottom of the market.

The current housing stock Almost 80% of households in urban Ghana occupy rooms in compounds (55%) or other multi-occupied residential buildings (24%). Only 25% of households are owners

The current housing stock About 90 per cent of housing in urban Ghana is informal - built without local authority control. Extensions add many new rooms to existing houses.

The current housing stock Importance of “family houses”. Urban housing is said to be very expensive but cannot be. Even so, government data show 35% of households can only afford GHC 12,000 or less (a single room) and 85% can afford less than GHC 72,000. Households spend <10% of household expenditure on housing (GLSS). Rent for a room is usually very low compared with the cost of building it.

The current housing stock Almost 60 per cent of households in urban Ghana occupy single rooms.

Need for housing in urban Ghana The housing stock in urban Ghana in 2000 was 2.2 million “dwelling units” (census); Rooms are clearly defined and that is what Ghanaians tend to occupy. The housing sector profile –calculates the need for rooms for each household at 2 ppr (e.g., 3 person households need two rooms). This gives an average need of 2.7 rooms/hh. –uses renter household expenditure from GLSS 5 and the sample survey as a means of calculating affordability to households who need it.

Here’s the current supply curve again in green. Note that the need peaks at two rooms per household while the supply peaks at one room

Here’s the current supply curve again in green. Note that the need peaks at two rooms per household while the supply peaks at one room 30% of households in urban Ghana occupy one room when they need two! Households seem to need one more room

What can households afford? The housing sector profile uses –GLSS 5 data, indexed for 2010, –data from the housing sector profile’s small survey of four cities, and –a house cost to income (expenditure) (HC:Y) ratio of 1:3. Current renter households can afford between US$10,000 and $18,000 (GHC14-25,000) as a capital cost for housing, either to own or to rent for market rents.

What can households afford? At 2.7 rooms per household and an overcrowding threshold of 2ppr, households can afford –Dwellings costing between $10,000 and $20,000 (GHC6,650 – GHC13,300) –rooms costing between US$2,200 and US$4000 (GHC3,100 – GHC5,500) each. –Higher spending in Accra and Kumasi than in the smaller cities

The housing market New dwellings are bought and some households are willing to sell. Traditionally, used housing is not sold in Ghana for strong cultural reasons The market in used housing is very small indeed. The proportion of formal to informal sector provision in urban Ghana is 9 : 91.

Rental market Most renters occupy rooms in multi-occupied housing, sharing services or using public taps and toilets. Rent-free living in family- houses provides an important social safety net. Low-income households in Accra tend to pay between GHC4 and GHC20 per month.

Number of rooms needed in urban Ghana 5.7million new rooms by new rooms must be completed in every minute of the working day for ten years If built as self-contained dwellings (one per household), about two million would be required by 2020 – over than one per minute 57 new rooms needed every 15 minutes!

Current plot sizes (gross densities of about 8.6 per Ha.) 10 plots per hectare from the National Shelter Strategy Land take required for 2,011,711 new urban households by 2020 Difference is huge

Implications for land and infrastructure If bungalows were standard for each new household, 220,000Ha would be needed. With multi-occupied compounds, around 67,000Ha would be needed. Need to provide land and infrastructure for $4,000 - $7.200 per household. Current systems cost too much, especially for single household dwellings. At 10% of house cost, infrastructure must be provided for between $1,000 and $1,800 per household.

Implications for finance Need is far beyond the existing financial institutions Based on affordability, the cost of building all the houses containing the new rooms should be –Between US$2 billion and $3.6 billion annually. The current total value of mortgages is tiny in comparison Massive demand for construction materials likely Need finance for their industries

Implications for construction Probably add 100,000 construction jobs per year Backward and forward linkages should double these numbers At unskilled daily rates of GHC12, this would add up to GHC250million per annum wages Huge need for vocational training to increase skilled workforce

Summary 3.8 new rooms per minute needed or more than a dwelling every minute Most need to be very low cost indeed and provided by the informal sector Huge land take, need for finance, infrastructure and construction materials and manpower Massive potential to provide work “Business as usual” will not keep pace Need new approaches to ease up the supply chain

If you have been, Thank you for listening God bless Ghana