Ghana’s National Rental Assistance Scheme: A scholarly critique and policy recommendations

Rental housing is growing very rapidly across many cities within Sub Saharan Africa and provides a nuanced approach to curbing the dynamics of housing supply as well as landlord-tenant relations. Due to the largely informal nature of housing provision in Ghana, enforcement of the Rent Act (Act 220) has been a major challenge, especially with respect to the rent advance phenomenon. There is documented evidence on the harrowing experiences of renters in connection with the rent advance system and the need for the state to intervene to ameliorate the financial burden on tenants. The government introduced the National Rental Assistance Scheme (NRAS) in 2023 to support tenants to pay the huge financial commitments required of the rent advance, while tenants in return pay back monthly. However, the operationalization of the policy has come to question. The objective of the paper is to examine the sustainability of the NRAS, by examining the source of funding, objectives, eligibility criteria and application process. The paper argues that if the policy focus of government is to promote monthly rent payments, why does government paradoxically promote a rent advance scheme of more than one year – this is a policy inconsistency. This paper is a scholarly critique designed to bring to the fore the scheme’s shortcomings and provide relevant policy recommendations to strengthen the implementation. It builds on previous studies on rent advance in Ghana and other Africa countries.