Introduction

Concerns for human wellbeing associated with housing led to the introduction of housing into the 2000 Round of Population and Housing Census. The 2010 Population and Housing Census is thus the second time data on housing were collected. A number of housing characteristics and associated conditions such as overcrowding, declining supply of basic services, such as, drinking water and sanitation facilities (toilet and bathroom) are important areas that are required for monitoring progress in human development.

This chapter presents information on housing characteristics in Tema metropolis in 2010, such as, housing stock, types of dwelling units, room occupancy, holding and tenancy arrangements, lighting and cooking facilities, bathing and toilet facilities, waste disposal and sources of water for drinking and for domestic uses.

Housing stock

The Tema metropolis is completely urbanized. The total stock of houses is 40, 956, household population of 285,139 70,797 households. The average households per house is 1.7, population per house is 7.1 and household size of 4.1 persons (Table 8.1).

Dwelling Units, Holding and Tenancy Arrangements

 Ownership status of dwelling by sex of household head and type of locality

Table 8.2 shows ownership of dwelling units by sex of household head in the metropolis. The highest proportion of dwelling units are owned by household members (48.2%), followed by those owned by other private individual (33.6%), a relative not a household member (8.1%) and public (government) ownership (5.2%).

Higher proportions of female headed households occupy dwelling units owned by a household member (51.0%), a relative not a household member (8.8%) and being purchased (mortgage) (1.4%) than the proportions of male-headed households (46.6% 7.7% and 1.3%, respectively). And, higher proportions of male headed households occupy dwelling units other private individual (34.9%), public/government (5.5%), private employer (2.5%) and other private agency (0.9%) than the proportions of female-headed households in such dwelling units (31.4%, 4.6%, 1.7% and 0.7%, respectively).

 Types of dwelling units

Table 8.3 shows types of dwelling units by household head in the metropolis. About 31.2 percent are compound houses, followed by semi-detached houses (25.4%), separate houses (20.2%), flat/apartment (9.2%), Improvised homes (8.9%) and uncompleted buildings (2.3%). Other types of dwelling units (0.3%) and huts/buildings (different compound) (0.1%).

Higher proportions of female-headed households live in compound houses (32.5%) and semi-detached houses (27.9%) compared to that of male-headed households (30.4% and 24.0%, respectively), Higher proportions of male-headed households live in separate houses (21.5%), flat/apartment is (9.5%) and improvised homes (9.2%) than that of female headed household (17.9%, 8.6% and 8.5%, respectively).

Construction Materials

Main materials for outer wall

Table 8.4 shows that outer walls of over 75 percent of dwelling units in Tema metropolis are constructed with cement block/concrete and 19.8 percent are constructed with wood, The proportions of dwelling units that other materials are used for the construction of outer walls less than 0.5 percent.

Materials for floor

Table 8.5 shows that the floors of 73.2 percent of dwelling units in Tema metropolis are constructed with cement/concrete, 8.2 percent are constructed with ceramic/porcelain/granite/marble tile. For 6.0 percent, vinyl tiles are used, 5.0 percent are constructed with terrazzo/terrazzo tiles and for 4.4 percent of the dwelling units, and wood is used for floor construction.

Main materials for roofing

Table 8.6 shows that majority of dwelling units in the metropolis are roofed with metal sheet (59.9%), and slate/asbestos (28.2%). About 6.3 percent of the dwelling units are roofed with cement/concrete and 2.8 percent are roofed with roofing tiles.

Room Occupancy

Table 8.7 shows room occupancy of households in dwelling units in the metropolis. About 53.8 percent of households occupy one room and the proportion decreases steadily as the number of room occupancy increases to 0.2 percent of households that occupy dwelling units of nine rooms or more.

With respect to household size, the proportion that occupy one room decreases from 85.6 percent among one member household to 11.5 percent among 10+ member households. In two room occupancy, the proportion increases from 9.0 percent among one member household to 33.8 percent among seven member households and decreases to 21.2 percent among 10+ member households. In three room occupancy, the proportion increases from 2.8 percent among one member households to 22.5 percent among nine member households and decrease to 20.7 percent among 10+ member households. From 4 rooms to 9 rooms or more, the proportion increases from lowest among one member households to highest among 10+ member households.

Utilities and Household Facilities

 Sources of lighting

Table 8.8 shows the sources of lighting dwelling units in Tema metropolis. About 86.7 percent of households use electricity (mains) as source of lighting, followed by the use of kerosene lamp (5.3%), while 4.4 percent use flash light/torch and 2.1 percent use candle.

Sources of cooking fuel

Table 8.9 shows sources of cooking fuel for households in Tema metropolis. The dominant source of cooking fuel in the metropolis is gas used by 51.7 percent of households, followed by charcoal used by 40.2 percent of households and wood used by 1.2 percent of households.

Table 8.9 also shows cooking space used by households in the metropolis. About 46.4 percent of households use separate room for exclusive use of household, 20.4 percent use of verandah, 17.8 percent use open space in the compound and 4.5 percent use separate room shared with other households.

Sources of Water for Drinking and other Domestic Purposes

The availability of and accessibility to improved drinking water is an important aspect of the health of household members. The UN Millennium Development Goal Seven (MDG 7) aim at reducing by half, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015 based on 1990 levels

 Sources of drinking water

Table 8.10 show sources of drinking water for households in the metropolis. About 49.4 percent of households use pipe-borne inside dwelling unit, followed by pipe-borne outside dwelling unit (25.4%), public tap/standpipe (16.0%), and sachet water (6.5%).

Source of water for other domestic use

Table 8.11 shows that pipe-borne inside dwelling unit is used by 53.8 percent of households for other domestic purposes, followed by pipe-borne outside dwelling unit (27.6% of households) and public tap /standpipe (16.6%).