30m Ghc Set Aside For Rent Scheme – Asenso Boakye
The Hon. Minister of Works and Housing, Asenso Boakye has disclosed that as a step to cushion low income civil and public Workers, government has provided a seed money of 30m Ghc to serve as rent advance . This according to him will set the tone for the government’s determination to tackle rental accommodation problem that has bedevilled young govermment workers in the country. This was announced at a National Rent Assistance Scheme luncheon at the International Conference Centre in Accra on the 31st of January , 2023. The minister intimated that the scheme is the brain child of the NPP manifesto promise in 2020 that the president pressurised him to bring it into fruition . According to him ,the president saw the challenges low income earners go through at the hands of Shylock landlords who demand huge sums of money as rent advance . Some landlords demand two or three years rent sum in advance from these starters and this put the renters into some nightmarish trauma. For this reason, the government has come to the rescue of these vunerable people to give them some respite. To begin with, six regions have been selected for the starters ; Greater Accra, Eastern, Ashanti ,Western,Northern and Bono East where the pressure is intense for accommodation by workers. He added that the scheme will cover all the 16 regions in due course .The minister lamented about the inability of the state to deal with rental issues as well as the unsuccessful and unwieldy low housing schemes by successive governments without touching on the rental bit. Hon. Asenso announced the modalities and eligibility criteria for prospective applicants Application can be found onine on a portal . A body has been set up to see to its smooth implemention ,evaluation and monitoring to avoid undue pitfalls. He agreed that being a novel scheme, there may be some bottlenecks but they will be addressed with time and methods. The scheme is going to be private sector led with support from government . In his speech, the Vice President of the Republic, Alhaji Mahamadu Bawumia outlined the requirements for qualification for the scheme. Some of them include : Valid Ghana Card , Residential Digital Address System, Valid Bank Account , Regular Employment, Mobile Money Interoperability, Ghanaian Citizenship, Location of the accommodation, etc. He indicated that the money being a loan will be paid direct to the land lord with very negligible interest . That the beneficiary must pay the loan with 30 % of his household income every month till the money is completely retrieved. The deductions will form the basis for other people’s loans and revolved to cover a lot more people in the cycle. He later launched the scheme after his inspiring speech. In attendance were the Chief of Staff, Ministers of Labour , Information and Local government . The chairperson for the occasion was the Chairman of Council of State ; Nana Otuo Sirebour ,the Paramount Chief of Juabeng Ashanti.
