Housing Policy Changes in Ghana in the 1990s

Authors

Godwin Arku, University of Western Ontario

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2009

Volume

24

Issue

2

Journal

Housing Studies

First Page

261

Last Page

272

URL with Digital Object Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02673030902719763

Abstract

The housing sector in Ghana has undergone fundamental changes since the 1990s. Policy focus has shifted away from direct state provision and has moved strongly towards active private sector participation in housing production, financing and production of building materials. In part, this is due to the failure of public housing programmes, dwindling state resources, unimpressive performance of state-owned enterprises, and recognition that the government alone is unable to solve the housing problem. On a broader scale, the changes are rooted in liberalization ideologies that have swept through most economies in the 1980s and 1990s, which have had varying effects on people's housing need and on the national economy. The purpose of this paper is to examine these effects, to offer some interpretations, and to outline some of the lingering challenges facing the country's housing sector.