Despite the huge housing deficit in the country, not much is being invested in the sector. It is also clear that the cities of Ghana are getting chocked. Previous governments intervention in the housing sector has not improved the supply and the stock of housing both in the urban and rural areas because of various input problems. From 1987, the PNDC Government shifted the housing sector s focus from direct involvement in the provision of housing to facilitating access by the private sector to various resources required for housing development. Government s overall policy in the housing sector is to provide safe and sanitary housing.
Government now plays a less direct role in the housing sector than previous governments did.
The objective of the present Government is one of facilitating self-help and other private sector initiatives as much as possible. Government does this by formulating appropriate building regulations for construction, promoting a variety of housing finance institutions, providing trunk infrastructure and developing service land. Despite Government s good intentions for the housing sector, finance for the Ministry of Works and Housing is lean. And the Ministry is often left in the awkward situation of having to formulate and implement policies on thin financial budgets. While the Works and Housing Ministry limps along on lean funds, the low paid Ghanaian workers continue to split hairs with their landlords over unpaid rent and detedeterioriating housing facilities.