The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Koldo Casla, has called on government to provide the Rent Control Department with the necessary logistics and resources to strengthen its operations.
He also urged the government to strengthen relevant institutional mechanisms to improve monitoring and curb arbitrary rent increases that place additional pressure on tenants.
In a statement issued at the end of his 12-day official visit to Ghana and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the weekend, Mr Casla said the unaffordability of formal housing was forcing many Ghanaians into informal settlements.
“During the visit, I observed the housing construction and physical transformations taking place primarily in Accra,” he said.
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“I could see flashy billboards around the capital promoting real estate investments at stratospheric prices far from the reach of the average Ghanaian.”
Mr Casla said the authorities needed to recognise that the high cost of formal housing had left many Ghanaians with limited options, including moving into informal settlements.
“About 31 per cent of the urban population lives in informal settlements,” he said, adding that a considerable number of Ghanaians were also homeless.
He urged the authorities to listen more actively to the needs of people living in poverty when designing public housing policies.
Mr Casla also noted the significant contribution of the construction sector to Ghana’s economy, saying it employed hundreds of thousands of people and contributed an estimated seven to 15 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
