Review of the Rent Act must be Evidence-based and not driven by mere sentiments 

At the maiden Youth in Construction Conference held at the La Palm Royal Beach in Accra, Mr Kenneth Donkor-Hyiaman, a Research Fellow of the Property & Planning Institute of Technology (PPIT) speaking on “The need for research impact in the construction and real estate industries in Ghana” questioned the basis for the proposal to reduce the rent advance payment period from six months to one month. He challenged the Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr. Sampson Ahi to produce the evidence-based (data and research) that supported this eminent policy change.

Mr Kenneth Donkor-Hyiaman acknowledged the need to update some portions of the rent act to reflect current circumstances but bemoaned the possibility that the basis for a theory of change appears to be informed more by sentiments than data and research.  It is a fact that some landlords take more than six month’s rent advance from prospective tenants amidst increasing rents. This situation has made it difficult for some people to secure decent accommodation or lose their accommodation to the highest bidders. He argued that this situation is fundamentally a result of the huge housing deficits in Ghana and the best solution is to increase housing supply and not to legislate the problem away.  This latter he christened as “picking the low hanging fruits” – the easy but less effective approach.

The Youth in Construction Conference was organized by the Global Communities as part of the Youth Inclusive Entrepreneurial Development Initiative for Employment (YIEDIE) project on August 10, 2016. Referring to the extant literature, the PPIT Research Fellow expressed doubt about the successful implementation of this proposal when passed into law without dealing with the housing supply constraints. He indicated that the history of rent controls in Ghana and other parts of the world is debilitating and has often worsened housing conditions wherever they were implemented. On a practical side, the PPIT predicts that such a law and policy is most likely to starve the housing market of the needed future investments since investors may not achieve their expected returns given this legal restriction and risk. Rational investors will begin to reallocate their resources to other investment assets like stocks, bonds and infrastructure, beside others that provide better returns with less or the same risk. 

The PPIT is of the view that the prolonged culture of policy making without robust data and research might be the natural outcome of the lack of research in general and research impact in the real estate and construction industries to be specific, beyond academic impact – where research findings are published in academic journals. Making reference to previous and established definitions of research impact as the: outcomes, benefit, payback, translation, transfer, uptake and utilisation (Beacham et al, 2005; Carden, 2004; Flint, 1998), he therefore presented a framework for evaluating research impact in the construction and real estate industries in Ghana. He highlighted the need for more research of the pertinent and rising issues in the construction and real estate industries, but research that demonstrates change either real or potential beyond the research process and its primary outputs.

The Property & Planning Institute of Technology, a research Institute focused on real estate, construction, and infrastructure planning and policy research is leading an advocacy to maximize the impact of research in the real estate and construction industries in Ghana. The PPIT seeks to lead demand-driven impact research for evidence-based policy making in the management of real estate, construction industry and environmental resources in Ghana. He called on private and public institutions to use the services of the Institute.