The Man Jesus

There was a man walking on the road of life, and he fell into a deep pit full of mud and slime. He tried to get out, but he couldn’t. So along came a religionist, who saw the man in the pit and said, “What on earth are you doing in the pit? You should be ashamed of yourself for being down there. 

If you’d have played by the rules, you wouldn’t have fallen in!” And the religionist walked by and left him there.

And along came the humanist, who saw the man in the pit and said, “Be strong! You have a spark of divinity in you. So believe in yourself, get up, and come on up out of the pit.” So he believed in himself, strained and struggled, but still couldn’t get out of the pit.

Then came Jesus, who saw that man in the pit, took off His royal robes, and got down in the pit with all the filth and dirt. He reached out to that man and pulled him out of the pit Himself. And that man, broken and wounded by his fall, was healed, stood up, and walked with Jesus.

That’s what Christianity is all about. That’s the message of the Gospel. Christ pulls you out of the pit of sin and into life with Him. Trust in Him today, and live your live to share that message with others!

2.7 million people occupy single rooms in Ghana

The UN-Habitat Housing profile on Ghana has indicted that about 2.7 million
in urban Ghana occupy single rooms. It says Many households are likely to be caretakers of semi-completed buildings.

 The report suggested that ′it is important that compound or similar means of living cheaply are not simply removed from the palette of acceptable housing because the middle class think they are outmoded.

The relationship between housing cost and income is a contentious issue in Ghanaian urban studies. Many authors quote the typical labourer’s wage, or the minimum wage, or that of a junior civil servant, or a new graduate, and compare it with the cost of a small dwelling built by State Housing Company.

Through this, some really high house cost to income ratios can be detected.
The UN-Habitat housing profile reports that a well-researched work on Accra has examined the cost of housing against incomes and found them so expensive that it declares Accra to be a “superstar city” one in which a high demand for housing is not met by supply and housing remains in short supply and expensive.

They find that housing market constraints imposed by policies drive prices up. Such policies as minimum plot size that most people cannot afford, or the insistence on self-contained housing by the formal sector, carry welfare costs that are high and regressive.

Furthermore, the policies prevent such measures as easier finance or remittances from increasing the growth in housing supply as much as they should if they were not driving prices up.

In addition, although the research found that mean and median incomes are much higher in Accra than  Dar es Salaam and Addis Ababa, housing conditions are considerably worse. In other words, policies impede the improvements in housing conditions that would be expected from higher incomes.

In addition, policies on plot sizes and plot coverage create land parcels that are too expensive for most people to afford, impose a tax on renters and redistribute the money to home owners, and so set an artificially high threshold price on self-contained dwellings.

The GLSS (Ghana Statistical Service, 2008) shows that, out of a total mean urban household expenditure of GHC3,620, urban households spend a mean of only 9 per cent or GHC325 per annum on housing, water, electricity and gas. In per capita terms, the mean is only 8 per cent or GHC115 spent on housing, water, electricity and gas.
GLSS 528 shows that households in Accra spend only 4.5 per cent of their household expenditure on housing and urban households elsewhere spend only 2.2 per cent on housing, giving an urban total of 3.2 per cent.

The housing sector profile’s survey in 2010 shows very different house costs between Accra and the rest and between the highest cost sectors in each city and the lowest.

The highest cost sector in Accra has a mean rent of GHC326 per month plus GHC200 for maintenance, giving a total of about 19 per cent of expenditure on housing.

In the lowest cost areas of Accra, however, the monthly payment has a mean of only GHC42 with GHC5 on maintenance, a total of only 10 per cent of expenditure. In the other cities, highest mean rents range from GHC97 in Kumasi to only GHC25.5 in Sekondi-Takoradi. In the lowest rent areas, means are only GHC16 in Sekondi- Takoradi to GHC13 in Tamale.

By: Samuel Mantey
Property Express
Email: Sammyoo3@yahoo.com

State owes only 20 percent of all land in Ghana

Most land in Ghana is communally owned by the indigenous tribal groups which operate through their traditional social structures, which can be matrilineal or patrilineal, and their customary hierarchies of governance.

These systems affect who can own land and how customary land transactions are conducted. By extension, they affect who is building and where housing will be located. Although the land is communally owned by entire indigenous groups, the management of the land is customarily vested in the traditional chiefs and elders of the principal families of these indigenous groups.

The state currently owns about 20 per cent of all land in the country; its activities are handled by the Lands Commission as the sole agency for administering public land, including expropriation and assignment on behalf of the state.

However, the 1992 constitution Chapter 20 Clause 257 indicate that public lands are vestment of in the President. All public land in Ghana is vested in the President on behalf of, and in trust for, the people of Ghana. Public land includes any land which has been vested in the Government of Ghana for the public service of Ghana, and any other land acquired in the public interest. All vested lands in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions revert to the original owners.

Exclusion of foreigners from freehold leases
Constitution of Ghana Chapter 20 Clause 266 – Non-Ghanaians are excluded from freehold interest in land in Ghana and any existing freehold held by non-Ghanaians is deemed to be leasehold for fifty years from 1969 reverting to the state upon the expiry of the lease. Non-Ghanaians cannot hold leases of and beyond fifty years.

Stool and Skin Lands and Property
Constitution of Ghana Chapter 20 Clause 267 indicates that all land belongs to the indigenous settlers and is vested in the appropriate stool or skin on behalf of, and in trust for the subjects of the stool in accordance with customary law and usage. No stool or skin land can be disposed off unless the intended development is in compliance with the development plan of the area.
No person(s) shall hold a freehold interest in, or right over, any stool land in Ghana. The Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands shall be responsible for safe administration of rents, dues, and royalties. revenues or other payments and their disbursement as follows; 10 per cent to the office of the Administrator of Stool Lands to cover administrative expenses, and of the remaining amount, 25 per cent to the stool, 20 per cent to the traditional authority; and 55 per cent to the District Assembly.

 Compulsory acquisition of land by the state
State Lands Act, 1962 (Act 125) The President (acting on behalf of the state) has the power to acquire the absolute interest in any land for use in the “public interest”. However, the Act did not define the definition of “public interest”. Provision is made for payment of compensation, estimated at the open market value, or land of equivalent value may be offered as compensation.


By: Samuel Mantey
Property Express
Email: Sammyoo3@yahoo.com

600,000 rooms must be provided annually to tackle housing deficit in Ghana

Compared with many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana’s urban population is very poorly housed. UN-Habitat report indicates that about 60 per cent of all urban households occupy single rooms. While a taxi-driver in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital, routinely lives in two or three rooms, one in Accra is likely only to have one room.

The UN-Habitat report has suggested a total of 574,000 rooms must be provided every year, 1,840 per working day, about four every minute to tackle the nation’s housing deficit of 1.7 million.

This is a significant challenge and one unlikely to be met by formal sector contractors building two- to three-bedroom villas, even if many of the households could afford them.

Business through the current formal housing, land and finance institutions, will not meet the serious shortage of rooms and services in urban Ghana in the next decade.

The UN-Habitat say the way forward involves major changes in the way housing is provided; a paradigm shift from ensuring that a few very well-constructed and serviced dwellings are provided to ensuring that enough housing is built for everyone at a price that they can afford.

This certainly means shifting the emphasis from finding a future for current housing supply institutions to installing processes that ensure large quantities of housing at appropriate prices and sustainable densities, chiefly to the benefit of the majority of households who live in poverty.

Currently government figures show that 35 per cent of the households can only afford housing costing GHC12,000 or less (a single room) and 85 per cent of all households can afford less than GHC72,000.

Story: Samuel Mantey

Property Express

Email: Sammyoo3@yahoo.com

Can Zambia meet 2030 urban housing demand?

Zambia is a land-locked country with most of its 753,000 sq km land area between 1,000 and 1,400 metres above sea-level. Formerly Northern Rhodesia, Zambia gained its Independence from Great Britain in October, 1964.

The population of Zambia in 2010 was 13.05 million, up from 9.9 million in 2000, of which 5.07 million (39 per cent) live in urban areas. In 2010, the number of households in Zambia was 2.64 million of which 1.03 million were in urban areas.

Urban household numbers have increased in number by 643,207 since 2009 representing an average of 64,000 new urban households every year.
It is a reality that providing adequate housing to millions of low income households globally and particularly in urban centres is one of the greatest challenges facing society.

To address the challenges in the housing sector, the UN-Habitat welcomed
the initiative of the Government of Zambia to join other countries such as Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi or Tunisia on the review of the housing sector using the UN Habitat’s housing profiling tool.

Launching the housing profile the Minister of Local Government and Housing Professor Nkandu Luo stated ‘The vision of the Government of the Republic of Zambia in the housing sector is, “to have planned settlements with adequate, affordable and quality housing by 2030”. The question is can they meet that target?


Challenges

Until recently, Zambia was classified as a “Highly-Indebted Country” with very high levels of poverty, low GDP per capita and declining conditions of urban living. Following debt relief, the foreign debt of ZMK29.82 trillion in 2004 was reduced to ZMK2.1 trillion in 2005. With a Gross National Income per capita of USD1,070,6 it is now classified as “Lower-Middle Income Country”

According to the Economic Commission for Africa, poverty is firmly embedded in Zambia though the poverty incidence was down from 78 per cent in 1996 to 67 per cent in 2003. Overall poverty includes those who can afford to meet basic nutritional needs but cannot afford their non-food needs.

In 2006, 34 per cent of the urban population and 64 per cent of all Zambia fell into this category. Extreme poverty is defined as those whose standard of living is insufficient to meet their basic nutritional requirements even if they devote their entire consumption budget to food.
These constitute 20 per cent of the urban population and 51 per cent of all Zambia.

Per capita annual incomes are below USD1,300, placing Zambia among the world’s poorest nations.
There is no compulsory education in Zambia although the first seven years of education are free. Infant mortality rate is 84 per thousand live births. UN Habitat report shows 62 per cent of urban households receiving ZMK800,000 (USD200)30 or less per month and a mean monthly urban income of ZMK950,000 (USD190) in 2006.

Wages are still low for most workers in Zambia.
The rent element seems inappropriate as it is unlikely that any household which is restricted to ZMK800,000 a month for food will live in a medium cost dwelling.
As identified, the inadequate availability of affordable and decent housing in Zambia is one of the major challenges that the Government is facing in its quest to provide municipal services to its entire people.

This is exacerbated by the fact that the actual shortfall remains unclear and government has to rely on very rough estimates in order to plan the necessary interventions.

Prospect

National Housing Profile can be the first step to inform and engage policy and decision-makers, and provide them with the evidence needed to design their choices and support critical decisions.

UN-Habitat Executive Director, Dr Joan Clos says developing a Housing Profile needs to be seen as the basis for a broad housing sector reform that aims to improve its overall performance.

Clearly, the performance of a nation’s housing sector, its impact on cities and towns, and the living conditions of poor households is a key concern not only of national public policy, but it is also central to the agenda and international mandate of UN-Habitat.

Any shortfall in the housing sector could trigger severe negative impacts on social welfare, the environment and on the general performance of the national economy.
On the other hand, good housing, especially when security of tenure is in place, can make a significant contribution to the way households respond to an illness, care-giving and death cycle. If the home is secure, it is an asset which can ensure greater economic independence.

By: Samuel Mantey
Property Express
Email: Sammyoo3@yahoo.com