House owners’ adherence to the laws regulating Ghana’s housing plan and design in the Gomoa East District

Abstract

Earlier studies on adherence to housing laws in Ghana have massively concentrated on metropolitan and municipal assemblies. However, their findings may not be adequate for the dynamism in peri urban and urban areas of districts that are contiguous to heavily populated municipalities. This study therefore contributed to filling this gap by investigating house owners’ adherence to the Building and Zoning regulations in the peri urban and urban areas of the Gomoa East District, which is contiguous to the heavily populated Awutu Senya Municipality. Captured in four objectives, the study examined the pre- and post-building adherence level of house owners to the national Building and Zoning regulations in the district. It further examined the factors which influence house owners’ adherence to the housing laws and identified the effects that house owners’ adherence to the housing laws in the district have on the environment. Ways of improving adherence of house owners to the housing laws in the district were also explored. A quantitative approach was adopted and using a semi-structured questionnaire, data was gathered on 375 house owners who were residents in their houses in the study area. This sample size was determined through the multi-stage sampling technique. With the help of SPSS software version 22 and Stata MP 14 software, the data was analysed using descriptive statistics and the logit regression model. The results revealed that house owners’ adherence to the Building and Zoning regulations in both the pre and post building stages was low. Moreover, house owners’ ability to interpret permit, building supervision by Town and Country Planning Authourity (TCPA) during construction and having tertiary education had significant influence on the house owners’ level of adherence. It also came to light that, poor sanitation, poor street network and flooding resulted from house owners’ low level of adherence to housing law in the district. In order to bring about immediate improvement in the situation, it is recommended that house owners in the Gomoa East District endeavour to be abreast with the requirements of the Building and Zoning regulations by seeking guidance from the district’s TCPA especially during building construction to help align their building activities with the requirements of these housing laws. Yet more, there is need for an enhancement of the supervisory activities of the TCPA in both pre- and post-building of houses in the district. These done, will go a long way to improve house owners’ adherence to Building and Zoning laws and offset the negative effects that accompany breaches to the housing laws in the district.