Performance Assessment of Local Authorities in Managing Public Housing in Ghana

Abstract

The level of maintenance and the condition of public housing has been a significant concern for tenants and housing researchers alike. The state of public housing is often a reflection of its local authority managers and the policy that surrounds it. This paper assesses the performance of local authorities in the management of public housing in Ghana. Data was collected through interviews with local authority housing officers and tenants as well as a small sample survey of tenants. The performance of the authorities mentioned above was measured by three factors; adequacy (house types and quantity), decency (maintenance and satisfaction with maintenance), and affordability (rent levels). The paper concludes that the current state of Ghanaian public housing, when measured against its mandate to provide adequate, decent and affordable housing to beneficiary government workers is substandard due to underperforming local authorities (LAs). The paper suggests that rent policy should be reviewed to empower LAs to self-determine and collect rent. Rents in the public housing sector should be reviewed to realistic levels so that they may generate funds for maintenance. Housing policy should institute internal and external mechanisms to monitor the performance of LAs in the management of public housing.

Review of sub-national institutional performance in Ghana

“…Following more than three decades of the implementation of Ghana's decentralization policy, a flurry of evaluations describes Ghana's local government performance as mixed (Ayee 2008: 233-58); Osei-Akoto, Darko, William, George, and Adiah 2007). While a few studies are optimistic (see for example, Egbenya 2010), many others barely stop short of describing Ghana's decentralization experience as a failure, with sub-national government performance viewed as weak on several dimensions, including delivery of social services, such as education, health, and public housing (Frimpong Boamah 2018;Aziabah 2018;Yeboah-Assiamah 2016;Couttolenc 2012). There are also studies that review the methods or frameworks for analysing local government performance in Ghana (see for example Bawole and Ibrahim 2017;Zakaria 2013).…”