The link between land tenure security, access to housing, and improved living and environmental conditions: A study of three low-income settlements in Accra, Ghana

Abstract

The article unravels the effects of land tenure security on low-income people and squatters in Accra. Squatting, which prior to the 1990s was an insignificant problem but now constitutes a major socio-economic problem in the capital. The problem is mainly blamed on the failure of government policies and civil society's inability to provide housing or land for the poor. The land and property markets are prohibitive to the urban poor. Additionally, deficits in housing supply and high rents for decent accommodation have left the poor with no choice but to squat illegally on private or public properties. Land tenure security may not be the only condition needed to improve the housing situations of low-income people in Accra. However, observable improvements and transformations in living conditions among low-income urbanites that have some sort of tenure security raise the question: To what extent is there a relationship between land tenure security and access to housing, and improved living and environmental conditions? The study revealed that while tenure security alone was not sufficient for improvements of squatter settlements in Accra, it does serve as one of the key factors in low-income residents’ access to housing, and improved standards of living and environmental conditions.

Keywords:

• Accra
• housing
• land tenure security
• living environment
• squatters

Notes

1. The article is based on the author's PhD thesis (Nyametso 2010).

2. Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, ‘A precarious future: The informal settlement of Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana’, unpublished report, 2004.