Govt plans to use pension fund as housing mortgage
The Minister of Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye, has said the government is planning the possibility of home buyers using their Tier 2 and 3 Pensions fund as initial deposit to support mortgage.
He said there was the need for sustainable policies and programmes to make affordable housing possible in the country.
Mr Asenso-Boakyewas speaking at the 2021 Business 24 Real Estate Conference in Accra, yesterday.
He said despite the enormous economic impact associated with the housing sector, successive governments had not been able to provide housing that met the needs and financial capacities of majority of Ghanaians.
Mr Asenso-Boakye said that there was disparity between housing cost and income level of people, which raised the question of access and affordability.
He called for deeper collaboration between government and the private sector to create the needed opportunities for majority of the citizenry to have access to decent, safe, secure, quality, and affordable housing.
“The government’s new affordable programme will involve an appropriate mix of public and private sector investments to meet the financial capacity of the average Ghanaian as well as our urban population, to access safe and secured affordable housing,” the minister said.
Mr Asenso-Boakye said the ministry would collaborate with appropriate authorities to scale up the National Housing and Mortgage Fund that was piloted in 2020 to create more access to affordable housing for the low-to-middle income earners.
The minister said housing was an important instrument for economic development, since it could create employment through the production of building materials.
He appealed to stakeholders in the housing sector to embrace government’s affordable housing framework and partner financial institutions to invest more to reduce the prevalent housing deficit.
Mr Asenso-Boakye said “it is only through this that we can reach out to majority of our citizens and positively affect the lives of the larger population.”
The maiden edition of the Real Estate Conference brought together key industry players and professionals to discuss challenges facing the housing sector.
BY TIMEES REPORTER
