Majority of African countries suffer from acute shortage of housing thanks to huge population growth that has been compounded by rural urban migration. Studies have shown that USD1.4 trln is needed to plug affordable housing deficit in Africa.
The housing deficit in Kenya, constitutes of nearly 2 million and continues to grow at a rate of about 200,000 units a year. There’s increased proliferation of informal settlements in urban areas with a whopping 61 percent of the urban population living in slums in overcrowded homes typically with only one room and no adequate ventilation which proves to be detrimental to the health of these people. The Kenyan government plans to launch a low-cost housing project that will see 30,000 housing units constructed in east of Nairobi by 2020 as part of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s development agenda.
Ghana has a housing deficit of 1.7 million housing units as of 2018. To address this issue, the ministry of housing in Ghana has proposed an annual delivery of 85,000 homes over the next decade. The government is also working towards facilitating creative financing schemes that improves overall affordability and access to modern communities for all working-class citizens. The Ghana government, in 2019 budget has also announced GH¢1 billion mortgage and housing finance to leverage private capital which aims to expand access to housing and deepen the local mortgage and construction finance market to help bring down the housing deficit.
Ethiopia’s economic growth is accompanied by a rapid urbanization rate which has posed several socio-economic challenges which includes affordable housing. There’s an estimated shortage of at least 1.2 million units in Ethiopia. The government of Ethiopia has addressed the public’s demand for residence and employing various condominium housing schemes that has largely benefited low and middle-income citizens. Aside of government aided projects, a number of private real estate developers have been playing a pivotal role in making affordable homes a reality. The private companies have made significant contributions in satisfying the demand of middle and low- income citizens for apartments and other high-end houses by fully funding the cost of homes and employing different mechanisms such as microfinance and low interest loans to transfer properties.
