President John Dramani Mahama has proposed a new financing approach to help owners of uncompleted houses across the country finish their projects and occupy them under a rent-to-own arrangement.
According to President Mahama, the large number of unfinished houses visible across Ghana represents an opportunity that could help address the country’s housing deficit if innovative financing mechanisms are developed.
Speaking at the opening of the National Conference on Housing Finance in Accra on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, President Mahama said he has been concerned about the number of uncompleted buildings he sees whenever he travels across the country.
He suggested that authorities could identify unfinished houses within selected communities and assess the amount of money required to complete them.
“Cannot we get a product that allows us to take an area, identify all the uncompleted houses there, get the engineers and the architects to do the bill of quantities, and let us see how much more it would take to complete them?” he asked.
President Mahama said the programme could target houses that are already at advanced stages of construction, including those at the lintel or roofing stages.
He proposed that the incomes and financial circumstances of the owners could then be assessed to determine whether they qualify for assistance to complete the houses.
Under the proposed arrangement, beneficiaries could move into the completed homes and channel the money they would otherwise have paid as rent into a rent-to-own arrangement.
President Mahama said such an initiative would require government and stakeholders to “think outside the box” in tackling Ghana’s housing challenges.
Ghana’s housing deficit currently stands at about 1.8 million units, while more than 30 per cent of existing housing is considered inadequate.
The President said addressing the challenge would require not only constructing new houses but also finding innovative ways to bring existing uncompleted houses into productive use.
He also called for the exploration of other financing models, including affordable rental housing and district-level housing initiatives.
President Mahama said district assemblies could invest part of their internally generated funds and Common Fund allocations into rental housing, which could provide accommodation for workers posted to the districts while generating additional revenue for the assemblies.
