Government has been urged to take a look at the salary levels of workers to address the increasing housing deficit in the country.

Chairman of Comet Properties Limited, Nana Odeneho Kyeremateng said wage level in the country are too low enable many workers afford a decent accommodation.

Speaking to George Wiafe on PM Express Business Edition, Mr Kyeremateng indicated that an upward adjustment in salaries can be a catalyst to deal with the housing challenges.

"...and then look at our salaries. I am not an economist in that sense or the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, they [workers] must earn income according to whatever they've worked. Whatever they earn here, it is too low averagely. Not everybody can buy a house and not everybody can build a house," he said.

Mr Kyeremateng's comments come after the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicated that the just-ended Population and Housing Census revealed a housing deficit of about 1.7 million units, which is projected to hit 2 million units before the end of 2021.

It also revealed that out of the 10.7 million structures listed, 20 per cent were kiosks and wooden structures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJL1OwV4OC4&feature=youtu.be

One out of every five structures listed was not fully completed.

This therefore calls for the building of a minimum of 170,000 housing units annually to make up for the shortfall.

The Real Estate Developer indicated that the government must implement deliberate policies, including harnessing of pension funds and taxes.

He noted that although Ghana Housing Department, now State Housing Company Limited, introduced by former President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah aided in building houses in certain vicinities, including Cantonments, Labone, it could not be sustained due to economic challenges the country faced in the 1970s.

He further said that government's relegation of the responsibility to create affordable housing to the private sector, is not a prudent way to address the problem.