Abstract
Housing is considered a basic human need. Yet deficit housing supply plagues Ghana. Studies on housing concentrate mainly on offering accommodation that neglects the problem of its affordability. As a result, this study examines factors influencing housing affordability using the Tamale Metropolis as a case study. Using stratified random sampling methodology, 271 renters and homeowners was chosen. Data analysis utilized descriptive statistics. The study showed inflation, rapid urbanization, and building material costs were the dominant factors that influence housing affordability. Rent was also found to be relatively affordable for all categories of housing units. Furthermore, it emerged that the efforts of homeowners, the private sector developers, and the state in the provision of housing were insufficient in providing affordable housing. Consequently, tenants are forced to invest over longer years for constructing or buying a home. The private sector should use less-cost building materials in its projects to provide housing for rent and/or sale, and still present minimum quality standards. It will mean that construction costs will not be too high to justify a high rent once the building is completed. Rent will be on the low side when this happens so tenants can afford to. Equally, it is precarious that the government joins forces with the private estate developers to put up flats at reasonable prices using cheap local building materials.
Highlights
Affordable housing is one of the most significant urban problems in the world's developing economies (Chowdhury, 2013)
It emerged that the efforts of homeowners, the private sector developers, and the state in the provision of housing were insufficient in providing affordable housing
It is observed that of the 271 respondents, 50.6 percent of the respondents who constituted the majority were between the ages of 25 and 34, while 8.1 percent of the respondents who fell between the ages of 15 and 24 were of the least category, the reason being that they are students in the areas. These findings indicate that most respondents are in the periods of productive age when they will work to earn an income and pay for their housing needs
Summary
Affordable housing is one of the most significant urban problems in the world's developing economies (Chowdhury, 2013). It comes in a range of shapes including compound houses; semi-detached; tents, kiosks, and containers; flats/apartments, and huts. Single rooms occupy around 60 per cent of all urban households. This is because there was a housing deficit of 736,657 in Ghana as of 1970, which increased to 1,184,636 in 1984 to 1,526,275 in 2000. 35% of households can afford only GH12,000 or less (one room) and 85% of all households can afford less than GH772,000 (Tipple, 2011)
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