Ranking Member on the Local Government and Rural Development Committee of Parliament, Francis Asenso-Boakye, is calling for urgent action on the provision of district-level housing facilities to attract essential human resources to underserved communities across Ghana.
Ghana continues to struggle with attracting and retaining qualified healthcare professionals, engineers and teachers in hard-to-reach districts. Over the years, one of the most cited constraints has been the lack of decent accommodation in these areas a challenge that has contributed significantly to staffing shortages in key sectors.
Providing context to the issue, Mr. Asenso-Boakye, who previously served as Minister for Works and Housing, said the government must revisit the district housing scheme designed during his tenure, noting that it was developed precisely to address the accommodation gap at the local level.
He proposed that the initiative be expanded into a cross-sectoral programme, involving ministries such as Local Government, Education, Health and other relevant state institutions. Such collaboration, he emphasised, would strengthen the case for securing dedicated financing to support district-level housing.
According to him, this will not only improve living conditions for professionals posted to rural areas but also enhance service delivery and advance national development.
The Bantama MP made the call when he chaired the Local Government sector session at the ongoing 2026 Post-Budget Workshop for Members of Parliament in Accra on November 16, 2026.
“The primary reason that we don’t have these human resource at the district level, one of them is accommodation. They don’t have a good place to stay, they finished university with their colleagues and some of them get good places in Accra, but when some of them decide to go to the districts, they don’t get a place to stay so they don’t go. It is not only limited to architects, not only limited planners, for all professionals”, Hon Asenso Boakye noted.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye further urged the Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, to draw Cabinet’s attention to the urgent need for coordinated efforts for district level housing scheme that will accelerate development at the local level.
By: Christian Kpesese
