Addressing residential housing acquisition challenges in ghana through corporate institution’s staff loan schemes

The right to adequate standard of living, which includes adequate housing is recognized internationally. Even though this right is central in the global legal system, many people across the globe are not adequately housed, the worst seen in the AfricaIn Ghana people desire their own private homes or have access to adequate housing, but the housing sector is plagued with numerous challenges, with the most crucial ones being security of tenure and the huge financial requirement. As evidenced by the huge housing deficit and the consequential growth of slums in the urban areas, it seems that Ghanaians do not enjoy adequate housing in good environments. Housing delivery has not kept pace with population growth and the quality continues to deteriorate. It is estimated that the housing deficit is in excess of one Million units with annual supply of one hundred thousand units required. However, the annual house delivery is estimated at about Forty Thousand units. The housing finance sector is still in the growing stage, as the mortgage market does not yet meet the breadth of the population who might afford a mortgage. In effect the formal financial institutions have supplied very little mortgages to households in Ghana. As a result, most developers have to finance their housing, with savings or non-mortgage credit, and mostly by incremental building.In view of the Challenges of the formal mortgage structures, a number of house financing systems are evolving in the country. These include Community Mortgage Systems, Corporate Bodies house ownership schemes, and Institutions/Companies Staff Housing Loan operations. Some of these schemes are available to workers, especially those in the formal sector. The Volta River Authority (VRA) a statutory agency established in 1961 that generates electricity in Ghana, having examined and found the formal mortgage system to be highly priced and unaffordable by its staff, resorted to developing a scheme, the Staff Housing Loan Scheme (SHLS), to help staff acquire their own house. The scheme has been in operation for about twenty (20) years and many staff have benefited from it. Given various criteria and the availability of enough funds to cater for the needs of all qualified staff, there is the need to appraise the scheme of operation of the SHLS to underscore its relevance, evaluate the guiding principles and operational policies, accentuate its challenges and make recommendations as to how to improve the scheme. This paper will eventually make suggestions for other corporate institutions to emulate. Discussions at the international forum will undoubtedly bring out best practices to bear. It is believed that if many Corporate bodies implement such improved schemes, housing delivery will expand. Information required for this research will be gathered from the VRA Housing Loan Secretariat, staff and staff groups within the Authority. Engagements will be held with other sister institutions which operate similar schemes.