The National Rental Assistance Scheme (NRAS), which aims to assist lower-income households and young people in Ghana with safe, affordable, and rented accommodation, was unveiled by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Tuesday in Accra.
For eligible Ghanaians who are 18 years of age or older and have a regular and verifiable source of income, the Program would offer rent advance loans.
The beneficiary will repay these loans on a monthly basis for the duration of the rent, not exceeding 30% of his or her family income. To help candidates, the government has set out GHS30 million in first funding.
Before being extended to the other 10 regions, the Greater Accra, Eastern, Western, Ashanti, Bono East, and Northern regions will be covered by the initial phase of the Scheme’s implementation.
Rent Masters Ghana Limited, a company in the private sector was hired to run the Scheme and is in charge of its day-to-day operations.
In addition to handling customer application processes, the business will also pay rent advances directly to landlords and prepare and submit periodic reports to the Project Management Committee on the Scheme’s progress.
Also, it will act as a link between landlords and tenants to meet the needs of both sides.
In order to increase access to a variety of housing options, successive governments, according to vice president Bawumia, have implemented housing policies.
The market asymmetries in the rental housing sector were not addressed by these initiatives, which were primarily focused on house ownership services.
Rental housing is an essential component of a healthy housing market everywhere in the world. It also significantly increases access to affordable housing options, especially for young people and low-to-middle-income households.
The vice president claimed that the Akufo-Addo administration, as a people-focused government, had been working to provide citizens with adequate shelter, which was an important component of the government’s development objectives to address the issues with the housing sector, particularly rental housing.
He remarked, “I recognized the overall importance of the rental housing market in our effort to enhance access to housing options when I visited the Rent Control Department in July 2020.
I reaffirmed government plans to improve their effectiveness and efficiency while also updating the country’s rent management law to make it more current with changing trends.
He claimed that the issue of landlords requiring two years’ worth of rent in advance prevented many individuals, particularly young people, from accessing rental homes.
The Vice President claimed that the national identification system, a digital property address system, and mobile money interoperability—which had essentially given all eligible Ghanaians a bank account had made the implementation of the NRAS conceivable.
He continued that these methods significantly closed the gap between landlords, tenants, and credit suppliers.
The Vice President instructed the Ministry of Works and Housing to uphold its control and supervisory duties to ensure the Scheme’s successful implementation. One could submit an online request for assistance through the Scheme (www.nras.gov.gh).