Container Houses: The New Craze for Affordable Housing Options in Ghana

• Renting or buying a house in Ghana is very expensive as compared to other parts of Africa and the world
• Container houses are becoming more common and popular in Ghana as people are looking for affordable housing solutions
• Container houses are cheaper than brick and blockhouses and also come with other benefits which other house types do not have

People are looking for more sustainable and affordable ways to build houses other than the conventional brick and block buildings. Buying or building a house is one of the most expensive ventures anyone can embark on in Ghana.

The rental sector in Ghana is no less bearable. According to a report by Business Insider Africa, Accra is the second most expensive city in the world when it comes to property prices to income ratio and the first in the world.

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Most landlords in Ghana usually take a year or two’s rent advance on a property. This makes it difficult for more people to rent decent places.

In other parts of Africa and the world, rent is taken on a monthly basis to make it possible for more people to rent apartments.

There are instances where people have experimented with building houses with bamboo, plastic waste and shipping containers. A Ghanaian man widely known as “Tuger” has built a residential villa out of container houses in Kokrobite, Accra called Villa D’Tuger. He asserted that he believes in recycling and making good use of all the shipping containers at the [Tema] port that are left to rust.

Container houses are some of the cheapest housing types on the market. Speaking in an interview, ArchiDesign Concepts, who are builders of homes and office spaces using shipping containers in Ghana, stated that "a 40-foot container in good condition ranges between GH¢7,000 and GH¢10,000 while a 20-foot container is roughly GH¢5,000."

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Benefits of Container Houses

It may still take some time before more people embrace the idea of building homes with shipping containers. Below are 4 great reasons why more people should buy into the idea of building with containers.

1. They are less expensive compared to building with bricks and blocks.
2. It takes less time to finish building. It will take just a few weeks or months to complete a container home or office.
3. They are very durable. Fiberglass is used to fill the cavities in the framework and plasterboards or plywood are used for cladding.
4. Container houses can be moved around, unlike traditional housing types.

Young man builds with plastic bottles

In a similar story, Yen.com.gh wrote about a young man providing affordable housing in Ghana by building homes out of plastic waste bottles.

He has already built such houses in Accra and Kumasi. He is currently working on building a gated community of houses made out of plastic waste.

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Source: YEN.com.gh