Minister for Housing touts positive impact of Bawumia’s National Rent Assistance Scheme

A policy championed by former Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has been hailed as impactful and making positive contributions to Ghanaians.

The National Rent Assistance Scheme, a policy Dr. Bawumia championed to support working Ghanaians pay for their rent and pay back in installment, was launched by the former Vice President in 2023.

Dr. Bawumia came up with the idea after his visit to the National Rent Control, where he expressed concern over exorbitant rent fees and the demand for full payment of rent advances by landlords, contrary to the law. And to the address there, the scheme was introduced, which had initial support of GH 30 million Cedis from the erstwhile government, as seed money to give out loans to interested workers for their rent. The scheme was launched under the stewardship of the then Minister for Works and Housing, Hon. Francis Asenso Boakye. Was

Three years after the launch of the policy, new Minister for Housing, Kenneth Gilbert Adjei, has hailed the impact of the policy, describing it as a major success.

Speaking during the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, January 28, Mr Adjei said the initiative has helped to ease burden on Ghanaians, as it has, since it's inception in 2023, supported over 4700 Ghanaians, with an impressive 99% recovery rate of the soft loans.

"At its inception, the scheme received GH₵27 million in seed funding. Over time, both principal and interest have rolled over, resulting in GH₵71.7 million now available—demonstrating the scheme’s financial sustainability,” the Minister for Housing said.

At the launch of the programme in 2023, Dr. Bawumia announced it was being piloted in six regions:
Greater Accra, Bono East, Northern, Eastern, Western and Ashanti. The scheme has however been an overwhelming success with the Housing Minister revealing that in 2025 alone, 2031 individuals benefitted from it.

Following the success, the Housing Minister revealed that government intends to expand the scheme to cover other regions.

“The eligibility criteria, application process, and beneficiaries’ success stories confirm its impact on addressing housing needs. The government is preparing to scale the scheme nationwide across all 16 regions in the short to medium term,” he said.

Meanwhile a number of Ghanaians reacting to the story on social media have commended Dr. Bawumia for thinking through such an impactful policy for the country.

Others also commended the Minister for Housing for his honest admission and continuing with it.

At the launch of the National Rental Assistance Scheme in 2023, which was attended by a number of stakeholders including the TUC, Dr. Bawumia recalled his visit to the offices of the National Rent Control Board and his first-hand information on frustrations of many Ghanaians over rent.

He commended the Ministry of Housing for their cooperation and charged them to make the scheme work for it to be expanded to other parts of the country within a short time.