‘House to let’: housing agents, social networks and Ghana’s housing law and policy

John Windie Ansah, Dorothy Takyiakwaa, Edward Atakora and Michael Amoah

International Journal of Housing Policy, 2020, vol. 20, issue 3, 390-416

Abstract: This paper explores the entanglements between housing agents, their social networks and the current rental housing regulatory framework in Ghana. Using purely qualitative methods, the paper sought primary data from 42 housing agents, one Rent Control Department officer, 10 landlords and 15 tenants, and secondary data from government related policies and reports to uncover the nuances of housing agency in Ghana and their relevance to the housing regulatory and policy frameworks. Using narrative analysis, we draw on the social capital theory to uncover how social networks, trust and norms of reciprocity shape activities and strategies of housing agents towards both productive and conflict ridden outcomes. The paper argues that the organisation of activities of housing agents is an exercise of power mobilised through an elaborately informal but orderly social networks underlined by social trust and norms. We contend that such patterns of activities of housing agents founded on the elements of social capital produce both economic and administrative values to the state which could be adapted, refined and incorporated into the current housing regulations and policy.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/19491247.2020.1712760 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:intjhp:v:20:y:2020:i:3:p:390-416

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/REUJ20

DOI: 10.1080/19491247.2020.1712760

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Housing Policy is currently edited by Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Gerard van Bortel and Richard Ronald

More articles in International Journal of Housing Policy from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().