Effects of Population Increase on Housing as Land use in Ghana

The United Nations in 1995 set aside the first Monday of October every year as World Habitat Day to reflect on the state of towns and cities, and the basic right to adequate shelter for all and to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat. Significantly for 2010, the chosen theme for the celebration of World Habitat Day is 'A Better City, A Better Life'. The theme significantly helps in raising awareness on the need to improve urban planning to deal with new major challenges of the 21st century particularly in the area of provision of sustainable and adequate housing to meet the needs of all in the urban environment.

It has long been established that man's most basic needs are food, clothing and shelter. It is however clear in Ghana today that though these necessities have not come to all in same proportions, the one that is most deficient is shelter.

Poor Housing Delivery remains a “National Headache”. Only eight percent (8%) of Ghanaians can afford to buy a property without mortgage and yet only fifteen percent 15% of the population can access mortgages. Rapid population growth and increasing urbanization have made shelter one of the most critical problems currently facing the country. Increasing overcrowding, declining quality and access to portable water, toilet facilities and waste disposal characterize much of the housing stock in Ghana. The shortage of housing grew considerably worse during the intercensal period 1970 to 2000. For the nation as a whole, the number of persons per dwelling unit fell from 10.57 to 9.05 from 1960 to 1970, but by 1984 had increased again to 10.1 and was 5.1 by 2000, an indication that some improvement had taken place in the housing situation, but these improvements are not enough, particularly in the cities.

In the past two decade, or more, successive governments and policy analysts have identified the lack of adequate and affordable housing as one of the critical problems facing the country. House and land prices are spiraling out of control and even middle class Ghanaians cannot afford to own a home. Lack of affordable options to own property forces many Ghanaians into the rental market and informal settlements, which is drastically increasing due to population growth and urbanization. Informal rental housing has been characterized as overpriced, overcrowded and inadequate, while formal rental housing often disproportionately caters to upper income groups and foreign workers.

The “explosive growth” of population in the past few decades has been accompanied by a relatively slow rate of increase in housing in many parts of the world. For example Ghana's rapid population growth is straining urban infrastructure, and degrading social amenities and shelter conditions, particularly in the Accra – Tema metropolis. Lack of low-income housing compared to demand, the absence of private sector participation, and deficiencies in financing arrangements have made it difficult for ordinary Ghanaians to access affordable housing.

Ghana has been facing serious housing problems, particularly for the poor who make up the majority of the total population. Housing studies and analysis conducted as part of the policy preparation exercise demonstrate that low and moderate income families, representing approximately 70% of the population, are in most need of government intervention in the housing market. As a result, these families constitute the target groups to which special attention should be focused. Conventional approaches to the delivery of housing in both the public and private sectors have had limited impact in solving the housing problem. Only a fraction of housing delivery has been able to filter to the low-income population where the need is greatest. Even when housing schemes are deliberately targeted at the urban poor they still remain out of their reach [Draft National Housing Policy, 2009].

The following major changes need to occur in other to achieve significant and lasting gains in the performance of Ghana's housing sector, and its capacity to meet particularly the needs of households at the low-income level:

1. The formal sector must be induced to serve a much larger segment of the income distribution, building and financing housing for households with average incomes and above;

2. Public sector housing solutions need to be targeted to households with incomes below average, and such solutions should supplement people's efforts to produce housing informally rather than attempting to replace these efforts;

3. The existing capacity of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and District level agencies needs to be marshalled to enhance the quality of the informal housing already being built by the poorest households.

These changes require a major re-orientation of government's housing programs, which address the shortcomings of public sector investment in the sector. It is evident that many of the programs cannot achieve the objectives set to reach the target income groups because of cost escalation. It can also be said that rapid inflation experienced in the economy and inadequate project management has resulted in time and cost overruns for housing projects. Data from the 2000 population census indicate that informal construction processes are important; they form an integral part of the improvement and adjustments of housing for a large part of the population. A policy directed at the housing needs of the mass of the population must facilitate and support these processes and incorporate them into housing programs.

In view of the urgency of the situation of the housing sector there is a need for pragmatic considerations to be given to conducted research and studies in the area. The underlying idea is for the country to reconsider the under listed:

• Materials which have been proven through research and development but are not yet in commercial production;

• Ensuring long-term competitiveness of those materials for housing construction.

• Promoting alternative materials' production in appropriate locations i.e. areas with proven raw material base.

In the short to medium term, greater consideration should be given to the materials listed below to assess their likely impact on the construction market:

 Burnt clay bricks and tiles produced at small-scale;

 Composite cement Pozzolana production;
 Improved earth construction technology;
 Increased use of research output such as Hydrofill, precast lintels, bamboo trusses;

 Stone-cementfoundations that is lean concrete technology.

These materials require relatively simple and proven technologies that could be implemented with minimal effort especially, at the district/local level. This could be best achieved complimented by committed government policy support aimed at promoting increased use of local building material. If such local alternative resources are used appropriately and substituted for conventional materials, there should be noticeable reductions in construction cost.

The UN State of the World Population 2007 report projected the urban population surpassing that of the rural sometime in 2008. Urbanization trends indicate higher population growth rates in Africa and Asia although developed countries including United States of America, Germany and United Kingdom have a far higher growth in urbanization levels. Urbanization, though may be challenging, presents many opportunities to cities including the development of infrastructure and communication systems thereby providing employment opportunities also leading to increased quality of life. It should be a matter of priority to us as a country to consider inclusive development approaches towards meeting the housing problems in our cities.

Isaac Segbawu
Programs Officer
Housing the Masses
[email protected]