Family Compound Housing System Losing Its Value in Ghana: A Threat to Future Housing of the Poor

ABSTRACT

The family compound housing system in Ghana ensures both nuclear and extended family live in the same house and have reciprocal relationships. It is a social safety net that prevents homelessness in Ghana. The rent-free compound housing remains predominant in rural areas and indigenous parts of the cities. However, many Ghanaians prefer to live in single-family houses rather than the family compounds, resulting in a gradual reduction in the number of family compound houses. Based on a study conducted in four communities, the article uses a qualitative approach, with social capital theory as the analytical basis for the research, to investigate why most Ghanaians now wish to live outside their family homes. Based on the findings, the article questions the future of housing the poor in Ghana if the family compound housing system collapses and suggests a rental form of compound housing as a new policy for the state.

KEYWORDS:

• compound housing
• extended family
• family housing
• Ghana
• rent free

Acknowledgments

The authors want to show appreciation to Mr Mohammed Sanda who produced the map of the study areas as well as the research assistants who assisted in the data collection and also to Dr Oyaro Edwin Ondieki (University of Nairobi) who read through the article at the final stage of submission.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. All names mentioned in the article are pseudonyms.

2. Akans are the largest ethnic groups in Ghana. They are made up of the Twi (Akyem, Asante, and Akuapem), the Fante, and the Guans. They are generally located in the central and southern part of Ghana.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Esther Yeboah Danso-Wiredu

Mrs Esther Yeboah Danso-Wiredu, PhD, is a geography lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba-Ghana. She received a bachelor’s of education in geography at the University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, and obtained a master’s of philosophy in social change at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She received her PhD from the Social Geography Unit of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven. Her research interests and publications are on urban housing and slum development, gender and development, and rural agriculture.

Adjoa Poku

Adjoa Poku, PhD, is a lecturer in the Department of Geography Education, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. She received a master’s of philosophy in social change at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and a PhD from Nottingham University. Her research interests and publications are on population, medical and health Geography.