Public Housing Management In Ghana: Organisational Challenges

Public housing has been widely acknowledged for its tremendous contribution to easing housing shortage in many countries. Notwithstanding the shift towards neo-liberalization and the emphasis on private sector-led housing production, still public housing remains relevant. In Ghana, the Government undertook a large scale sale of government-built public housing in the 1980s in direct response to the neo-liberalization call. Most of the remaining stock were transferred to local/municipal authorities to own and manage. The remaining stock continues to contribute greatly to Ghana’sdevelopment by promoting labour mobility and productivity in the public sector through security of housing for some civil servants. Unfortunately, the conditions of the stock have largely been described as poor. This situation has been attributed to an ineffective management and maintenance system, more technically described as organisational challenges. The purpose of the study is to identify the challenges with local authority management of public rental housing. The study interviewed policymakers at the national level, local authority managers and tenants. It found that, the organisation for management lacks adequate policy and legal guidance. Furthermore, inadequate skilled personnel, finance, poor coordination, are among key constraints militating against the development of an effective maintenance system for public housing. The paper presents potential directions for developing better management and maintenance system for public housing. These include roles for tenants, local government and private actors (contractors), and a review of rent collection arrangements.