President Akufo-Addo has promised to revive the affordable housing projects as he commissions a 204 unit National Mortgage and Housing Finance Estate in Tema.
The president made this pronouncement today while commissioning the housing project at Tema Community 22.
The one and two-bedroom estate project is one of two piloted housing projects under the National Mortgage and Housing Finance initiative under the Ministry of Finance through its National Housing and Mortgage Fund established in 2018.
President Akufo-Addo noted “as a result of our inability to deal with the high population growth and rising rural-urban migration amongst others, homes are often prohibitively expensive for an average Ghanaian. The lack of a robust mortgage market denies workers the chance to finance purchases of homes.”
“Mortgages are currently only available to a very small segment of our population and often have interest rates above 28% making the monthly payment just as unaffordable as an upfront purchase.”
He mentioned that “the rent-to-own scheme will eliminate the burden of the two-year rent advance system. This was actually designed to give low-income workers the opportunity to rent and eventually own homes. The focus will be on apartments and innercity rehabilitation.”
President Akufo-Addo indicated that “government will therefore use this framework, the affordable housing rent-to-own to revive the affordable housing concept and complete many of the abandoned housing units across the country started by the second president of the fourth republic HE John Agyekum Kuffuor.”
“The affordable Rent-to-own will become the off-taker of the properties of the rent-to-own scheme. This will reduce significantly the enormous precedence put on government for sovereign guarantees,” he added.
In attendance at the commissioning was the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta whose ministry initiated this project. Others were the Minister for Housing Samuel Atta Akyea, Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah amongst other dignitaries.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh/103.5fm
