A WELCOME RELIEF

A LAUDABLE mortgage scheme to provide homes for public servants has begun with the first batch of public servants benefiting from the scheme by the end of this month.
Under the management of the HFC Bank, the Public Sector Employees Housing Scheme aims at providing a ready solution to one of the difficult challenges many workers in the country face — the acquisition of affordable homes.
For many public sector workers this is indeed a worthy scheme, considering the many problems that sometimes tend to inundate those who attempt to acquire homes.
From the first stage of land acquisition to the registration and development of the land, some workers face many obstacles that put them through dire straits.
Double or multiple sale of land by some landowners and even people pretending to be land owners is well known across the country as one of the major causes, if not the major reason, for land disputes in the country. The consequence is that our courts have been saddled with many land cases that are having a toll on the legal system and thus compelling the Judicial Service to designate courts to deal with land litigation.
A well-managed mortgage scheme, thus, comes to deal with the many concerns and subsequently raise the hopes of many workers for a good future and a comfortable retirement.
Indeed, in the 1980s the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) embarked on a scheme to provide housing units for the people, including workers, but somehow the scheme lost popularity as a result of the difficulty workers encountered in their bid to take advantage of the scheme.
Mortgage schemes were unattractive in the past because of the swift decline of the cedi against all major currencies and also because the prices of the houses were denominated in foreign exchange, thus making the payment terms suffocating.
Today, the interest rates and foreign exchange regimes are better and almost all the banks in the country have introduced competitive mortgage facilities that workers can take advantage of. However, one impediment to the wholesale patronage of such schemes appears to be the ignorance of most workers about the schemes and the packages therein.
For many workers, home mortgage is a ‘no go area’ because of the notion that the banks are out to rip off innocent workers with exorbitant schemes. The psychological or fear factor is real and this is one area the banks must seek to address to help many more Ghanaians to become home owners.
While the DAILY GRAPHIC encourages Ghanaians to patronise such schemes, we also wish to admonish the banks to provide competitive packages for workers seeking housing mortgages.
Although as business entities they are very well justified to invest with a profit motive, there should be reasonableness in projected profit margins to ensure that the schemes remain attractive to Ghanaians.
We also wish to implore the banks and estate developers to embark on such schemes well aware of the need to factor in important social amenities such as police posts or stations, post offices, communications facilities, schools and hospitals for such residential facilities.
Again, there should be proper collaboration with the relevant town and country planning agencies and departments, as well as local authorities, to ensure that such residential facilities are well-planned.
It is hoped that this scheme will not fizzle into thin air after a few workers have benefited from it, but that steps will be taken to ensure that there is the need for both workers and the banks to embrace it with a positive attitude.