Housing Affordability in Urban Ghana: Prospects and Challenges in Asokore Mampong, Kumasi

Abstract

Housing affordability had emerged as a critical urban challenge in Ghana, yet empirical evidence at the sub-city level remained limited. This study examined the dynamics of rental affordability in Asokore Mampong, a rapidly urbanizing municipality within the Kumasi Metropolis. Using a mixed-methods design, the study integrated survey data from 120 households with qualitative insights from 10 key informants to assess the prospects and constraints shaping access to affordable housing. Guided by Shelter Poverty Theory and Institutional Theory, the analysis explored how income levels, rent structures, cultural tenure systems, and governance inefficiencies interacted to influence affordability outcomes. By providing one of the few localized, municipal-level assessments of rental affordability in Ghana, the study offered empirical insights that remain largely absent from current scholarship. The findings showed that 74% of households spent more than 30% of their income on rent, indicating widespread shelter poverty. Two-year advance rent payments, agent exploitation, and weak rent regulation were identified as the most severe constraints. Although compound houses and family-based tenure systems provided partial affordability buffers, these were increasingly undermined by rising land values, overcrowding, and infrastructural deficits. Institutional weaknesses, particularly limited enforcement capacity, low public awareness of housing programmes, and fragmented land-governance systems further restricted affordable housing access. The paper concluded that affordability challenges in Asokore Mampong resulted from the combined effects of household-level vulnerability and systemic governance deficits. Strengthening rent regulation, improving institutional coordination, upgrading informal housing stock, and expanding financial support for low-income tenants were recommended.