Key public and private sector players in the housing industry will gather at the 2021 Ecobank-JoyNews Habitat Fair scheduled from October 27 to 31, this year, to provide solutions to bridge Ghana’s national housing deficit.

This year’s habitat fair on the theme: “Homeownership: To Buy or to Build ” would see industry players in the real estate value chain engage potential buyers to find better ways of making meaningful contributions towards helping Ghana reduce its housing deficit.

Mr Dan Sackey, Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, speaking at the launch of the fair at the Ecobank Head Office in Accra said, Ghana’s housing deficit which was more than two million housing units is of great concern and his outfit was poised in providing affordable housing units to help bridge the gap.

He noted that to resolve this housing deficit both private and public stakeholders had to provide 100,000 housing units.

“As a leading bank in Ghana and, indeed, the most admired financial services brand, Ecobank continues to reiterate its commitment to helping grow Ghana’s economy. The willingness is vividly manifested in the way we approach issues of pressing national interest, such as facilitating homeownership by workers.

“We believe that we should be able to expand the stock of housing available in the country. We say the government should help bridge the housing deficit gap but in the era of COVID-19, the government’s resources are stretched and that means the private sector like us and other partners, have a unique role to play to accelerate the provision of housing to all those who desire to own houses,” he said.

Mr Stephen Debrah, Vice President of Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) disclosed that in efforts to make commercial housing affordable to Ghanaians, his outfit is engaged with both state and private sector including the Ministry of Works and Housing, Investors, Banks, and other stakeholders to supply 20,000 housing units across the country.

“The Works and Housing Ministry with its current Minister Mr Francis Asensu Boakye have pledged in recent stakeholders’ engagement, to partner the private sector to bring the needed changes to confront the worsening deficit.

“The move to establish the National Housing Authority as prescribed in the National Housing Policy documents launched in 2015 and the composition of the Real Estate Agency Council as required by the Real Estate Agent act passed last year are some of the anchors needed to drive the needs for change,” he noted.

Mr Ken Ansah, Chief Operating Officer for the Multimedia Group Limited applauded stakeholders and partners for their numerous efforts at working together to provide affordable housing units for Ghanaians.

He was hopeful that they would deliver an excellent event that would yield results for the Ghanaians who are determined to either build or buy a house.