The Saglemi Housing Challenge was initiated by the John Mahama administration in 2012
A lot more than 5 million people today reside in casual settlements in Ghana. What effects is Covid-19 owning on their life? What does rebuilding the Ghanaian economic system mean for them? What may well be their aspirations? These are a couple of the issues we need to response if we are fascinated in developing, a substantially much more equitable Ghana.
To reside devoid of satisfactory housing, with no top quality shelter, is to live in injustice, to live with structural violence. Right before the onslaught of COVID-19, persons living in informal settlements confronted the a number of insecurities skilled by these who dwell with insufficient housing.
As the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHABITAT) points out, a slum is an “urban place with a deficiency of primary providers (sanitation, potable drinking water, and electricity), substandard housing, overcrowding, harmful and dangerous areas, insecure tenure and social exclusion.”
In advance of COVID-19 it was already greatly known that living in lousy excellent housing exposes the inhabitants to increased chance of infectious illnesses such as cholera, pneumonia, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and malaria. The deadly implications have been consistently dismissed by the ruling class, no matter which side of the duopoly controls Flagstaff Dwelling.
As we hope to endure the COVID-19 outbreak and system to “rebuild” Ghana, it is critical that we assume about methods to the housing difficulties confronted frequently across the nation but in particular acute for those who are compelled to live in casual settlements. Here are a couple strategies.
For a lot of in Ghana, the term “affordable housing” is an oxymoron. The housing many governments have built and misnamed “affordable housing” are definitely not reasonably priced. Get, for example, the Asokore Mampong Housing Job. For the most inexpensive alternative, a one bedroom device, the proposed price is ¢99,000. Who can find the money for this?
Let us think about that prospective householders are provided fascination-free of charge loans with a 20-calendar year home loan, to buy this ¢99,000 dwelling. This suggests that the house owner would be demanded to pay ¢412.5 regular monthly (¢4,950 yearly) for 20 several years. In accordance to the Ghana Living Specifications Survey 7 (GLSS 7), the ordinary monthly earnings is ¢972.00. If we concur that a person really should pay no far more than 30% of their wage for housing, then the greatest month-to-month spending budget for housing would have to be capped at ¢324.00 regular. However, the home finance loan payment needed is ¢412.5 month to month. In other words and phrases, a person earning the common month to month revenue would not be capable to manage this residence even when it is interest free of charge and has a 20 12 months home finance loan. Of study course, generous problems these kinds of as 20 year mortgages that are fascination free of charge do not exist. Evidently, lots of simply cannot find the money for the “affordable housing”. Key shifts are essential.
First, we ought to reject “affordable housing.” It is prohibitive. More critically, “affordable housing” operates to keep housing within exploitative capitalist relations. Housing stays a commodity which just one can entry dependent on your paying for electrical power. Low buying power indicates lessen excellent housing if any at all. But the monumental shortage of housing in Ghana, close to 2 million, will not and can not be solved by the “market”. For high-quality housing to be attainable and obtainable to absolutely everyone in Ghana we have to have an tactic to housing that does absent with prioritizing profits.
Second, we need to have to embrace public housing. I refer to housing not owned by a non-public individual or enterprise, but publicly owned and created available for individuals, specifically all those who are vulnerable. Such housing gives protection – assured high-quality shelter. This housing is outdoors of for-gain capitalist sector relations. Rather, general public housing suggests a way of delivering housing oriented in direction of social very good. Underpinning this practise is the belief that anyone should have a secure place to live, which supplies the necessities for a high quality daily life. For occasion, housing need to deliver protected dwelling as effectively the necessities of h2o and sanitation. This concept is not novel it has very long been enshrined in the Common Declaration of Human Legal rights.
Place succinctly, for good quality housing to be attainable and readily available to all people in Ghana we want an solution to housing that prioritizes harmless shelter for people today and the ecosystem. By committing to housing for all, we permit a nation-vast shift to the emergence of a nationwide ethic of care. Indeed, this can support (re)cultivate bonds of solidarity.
Solidarity with people living in casual settlements demands that we deal with the housing challenge in Ghana with social housing. There are many means to do this. Cooperative housing is one product. Below the principal purpose is not to create corporate or unique financial gain. Rather, cooperative housing seeks to produce and preserve lively communities of solidarity. Importantly, not only does it ensure affordability, but the customers collectively make a decision, just one man or woman – one particular vote, the direction the cooperative will choose as it increases the high-quality everyday living of its associates and the broader culture. The guiding vision is a more equitable Ghana wherever there is housing justice for all.
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Chaka Uzondu (Ph.D.) is a Policy Analyst. His writings cover subject areas ranging from h2o, sanitation, and cleanliness (Wash), overall health, housing, agroecology and political ecology.
