Govt promises home loans for youth

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has promised to set up a loan scheme for young Ghanaians that will help them rent decent homes.

The Vice President made this revelation at the NPP’s 2020 manifesto launch.

He indicated that the government will implement the policy through a National Rental Assistance scheme with an initial sum of GH¢100 million

“There are lots of youth who finish school and have to get accommodation. But the problem here is that some landlords demand rent allowance for as long as two years. For someone who just finished school and is starting a job, the sum will be huge and out of their reach. They may not have that amount saved to pay all these huge demands for rent allowance. There shows a market failure and that is why the government has decided to come in and bridge this market failure with the National Rental Assistance Scheme,” he said.

The Veep furthered that the scheme will primarily serve people in formal employment and will be required to provide guarantors to access the support from the scheme.

Speaking on the repayment structure of the loan, he said, “Under this scheme, if you have a job and we can deduct regularly from your income under this scheme, the National Rent Assurance scheme will give you a loan to pay your rent allowance but it is to the landlord. You need to have formal employment.

Explaining the capital for the project, he said, “We are going to be putting in place GH¢100 million for the National Rental Assistance scheme and work with the private sector to crowd in more [funds] so that we can get this done and relieve a lot of people who are renting of the burden.”