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Abstract
A combination of rapid population growth and low incomes results in housing shortages in Ghana. Migration to Europe, America and Scandinavia has provided a way for some Ghanaians to escape this housing problem, as they take advantage of salaries there in order to save and build houses much quicker back home. This study of Ghanaian migrants in Sydney shows that by keeping at two or more jobs and saving about 33 per cent of their incomes, they are able to build houses worth US$100 000 in Ghana within 3–6 years. How these Ghanaians acquire land, how they build and their experiences after completing their houses provide clues on how to improve housing policy in Ghana.
Acknowledgements
I am most grateful to Prof. F.J.B Stilwell for his helpful advice and guidance throughout this study. Rose, Grace and Akua Franklin as well as Nana Addo of the Ghana Association of New South Wales provided enormous support during the fieldwork. Dr Paul Alagidede also provided helpful comments to improve a very early draft of the work. The comments of the three anonymous reviewers for Housing Studies are also very much appreciated. Any disparity between their intentions and realisation in this paper is solely mine.
Notes
1 Note that the population in each of these regions varies.
2 Figures do not add up to 100 per cent because of rounding up.
3 As will be seen later, this deficit or shortfall, worsened by other factors, leads to overcrowding in houses, homelessness and general slum conditions.
4 Made up of self-employed artisans, who would work as general labourers (such as plumbers, carpenters, masons, tillers and so on) or specialists like electricians.
5 That is, a low-income person (defined in the Ghana Living Standard Survey in 1999 as one who earns US$172 or 2 500 000 old Ghana cedis per year) needs to save all that money for 54 years to buy a two-bedroom house that sells for US$9226 or 134 million old Ghana cedis (Obeng-Odoom, Citation2008, p. 77).
6 According to the UN-Habitat, these are settlements with poor access to improved water, sanitation, security of tenure, structural quality of dwellings and sufficient living area (UN-Habitat, Citation2003). This definition broadly corresponds to the definition of slums in the National Housing Strategy of Ghana (see Jack & Braimah, Citation2004, pp. 14–15). For that reason, housing studies in Ghana (e.g. Grant, Citation2009) adopt the UN-Habitat definition and statistics.
7 For more information about this figure and other figures related to it, see the statistics page of the official website of the Ghana Statistical Service. Available at http://www.statsghana.gov.gh/ (accessed 15 September 2009).
8 The Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade maintains a website of Australia-Ghana relations. Available at http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/ghana/hana_brief.html (accessed 10 August 2009).
9 The data here is taken from the 2006 census in Australia conducted by the Australian Government and reported by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Australia in its publication, Community Information Summary: Ghana-born.
10 The population of Ghana is 23 416 518.
11 One hundred and forty people live in Australian Capital Territory, which, unlike the others, is not a state in Australia.
12 ABS, 2009, ‘Health Literacy’. Available at http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20June+2009(accessed 23 July 2009).
13 Original measurement in Australian dollars (AU$520).
14 The good response rate in this study is fairly significant because culturally the Ghanaian people are secretive about questions concerning how they build or buy houses. Thus in a similar study in Ghana, Professor Richard Grant laments his frustrations as follows: ‘these are sensitive questions in any housing environment, and particularly so in Ghana because of cultural norms. Twenty-five per cent of respondents …did not provide answers to the questions, and one-third of respondents were non-responsive to the same questions. Non-respondents also included two heads of households who credited the Grace of God … and a Foreign Aunty as a source of funds but would not elaborate …’ (Grant, Citation2009, p. 83). Perhaps, the fact that the current survey was conducted by a Ghanaian played a part in making the respondents ‘comfortable’ in taking part in the study. However, even here, there had to be copious assurances that they would not be identified and that the survey was for research, not tax, purposes.
15 ‘[the stool/skin is] the seat of a chief of an indigenous state (sometimes of a head of family) which represents the source of authority of the chief (or head of family). It is a symbol of unity and its responsibilities devolve upon its living representative, the chief and his councillors. Land owned by such a state is referred to as stool land’ (Ministry of Lands & Forestry, Citation1999, p. 26).
16 These figures are deduced from the 2006 census in Australia conducted by the Australian Government and reported by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Australia in its publication, Community Information Summary: Ghana-born.
17 Original measurement in Australian dollars (AU$100).
18 Original measurement in Australian dollars (AU$22).
19 Reduced to US$24 (or the original amount, AU$28, in Australian dollars) for customers of the Commonwealth Bank.
20 Original measurement in Australian dollars (AU$6).
21 This figure is taken from the 2006 census in Australia conducted by the Australian Government and reported by the CitationDepartment of Immigration and Citizenship, Australia in its publication, Community Information Summary: Ghana-born.
22 Particularly if it is democratically controlled.