Ghana’s housing sector will come under international scrutiny from tomorrow as the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Koldo Casla, begins a 12-day official visit to assess how the country is responding to housing shortages, affordability pressures and poor living conditions.
Casla will be in Ghana from tomorrow September 28 to October 9, engaging government officials, local authorities, housing professionals, civil society organisations and residents on the challenges affecting access to adequate housing.
The assessment comes as Ghana faces an estimated 1.8 million-unit housing deficit, but the challenge extends beyond the number of homes available.
Affordability, overcrowding, sanitation, access to basic services, the quality of existing housing and the growth of informal settlements are also central to the country’s housing challenge.
Ghana’s submission to the UN on the New Urban Agenda has identified housing as one of the country’s pressing challenges and underscored the significant proportion of the urban population living in informal settlements.
Casla’s visit provides an opportunity to examine these challenges from a broader human rights perspective and to assess how housing policies and programmes are working in practice.
Looking beyond the number of houses
The Special Rapporteur will examine how the right to adequate housing is protected under Ghanaian law and how those protections translate into the daily experiences of residents.
His assessment will cover public housing, affordability in private housing and rental markets, habitability standards and access to essential services.
These issues are closely connected.
Increasing the supply of housing may not fully address the problem if households cannot afford the homes being built or if developments lack reliable access to water, sanitation, roads and other basic infrastructure.
The assessment will therefore consider what makes housing genuinely adequate and accessible, rather than focusing solely on the number of units constructed.
For Ghana’s housing sector, the findings could provide an independent assessment of areas where existing policies and programmes are making progress and where further attention may be required.
Listening to people on the ground
Casla is expected to travel to the Greater Accra metropolitan area, Tamale and surrounding communities, and Cape Coast during the visit.
His engagements will include national and local government officials, civil society representatives and economic actors, as well as tenants, people living in informal settlements and people experiencing homelessness.
These consultations will give the assessment a ground-level perspective on housing conditions, complementing discussions with policymakers and institutions responsible for housing delivery.
The Special Rapporteur will also examine how residents participate in decisions that affect housing and urban development.
That engagement could bring greater attention to the experiences of people who often have limited influence over decisions concerning where and how they live.
Affordability remains a major challenge
For many Ghanaian households, the difficulty is not simply finding a house but finding one they can afford.
High land and construction costs, expensive building materials, inadequate infrastructure and limited access to affordable, long-term finance all contribute to the cost of housing.
For low- and middle-income households, these pressures can widen the gap between homes available in the formal market and what they can realistically afford.
The issue therefore extends beyond government housing policy to developers, financial institutions, local authorities and other players involved in housing delivery.
Climate and the future of housing
Climate change will also form part of the assessment.
The Special Rapporteur will examine how the climate crisis affects the right to adequate housing, an issue that is becoming increasingly important as urban growth puts additional pressure on land, infrastructure and essential services.
For Ghana, the question is not only how many homes are built, but whether new and existing housing can withstand environmental pressures and provide residents with adequate services and safe living conditions.
Government has been pursuing affordable and climate-conscious housing initiatives, including projects aimed at expanding supply for low- and middle-income households.
Casla’s visit provides an opportunity to examine how such initiatives fit into Ghana’s wider housing needs and whether they are reaching people facing the greatest barriers to adequate housing.
What happens after the visit
The value of the 12-day engagement will ultimately depend on the findings and how they are used after the assessment.
Casla will hold a press conference at the end of the visit on October 9 at 11:30 a.m. at the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in North Ridge, Accra.
He will subsequently prepare a report on his findings for presentation to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2027.
For Ghana, the assessment offers an opportunity to examine housing policies, financing arrangements and delivery systems through an international human rights lens.
It could also help identify the barriers that continue to keep adequate housing out of reach for many households and highlight areas where government, the private sector and other stakeholders can strengthen their response.
The assessment therefore goes beyond Ghana’s housing deficit. At its core is a broader question: whether people across the country can access housing that is affordable, safe, adequate, connected to essential services and sustainable over time.
