Beyond generation rent: Tenure restructuring and intergenerational housing inequality in Ghana

Abstract

Intergenerational housing inequality is commonly framed in terms of delayed homeownership and prolonged renting; however, this framing derives largely from high-income, mortgage-based systems. This paper examines changes in young adults' household position, tenure and housing conditions in Ghana between 2000 and 2021, using harmonised ten per cent microdata from the 2000, 2010 and 2021 Population and Housing Censuses. Binary and multinomial logistic models indicate three shifts. First, the probability of occupying a household-leading role rose across all age groups, most sharply among adults aged 25 to 34, by nearly 19 percentage points between 2000 and 2021. Second, the tenure basis of housing access changed substantially. Owner occupation weakened among younger heads, non-market or rent-free occupation contracted, and market renting became the majority tenure among young household heads by 2021. Third, tenure-related housing-quality differences changed unevenly: renter-owner gaps in exclusive kitchen and bathroom access widened, while overcrowding gaps narrowed. Ghana's emerging generational housing inequality therefore concerns changing terms of housing access: household-leading roles became more common among younger adults, alongside a more rental-based tenure profile and persistent inequalities in some material conditions. The findings show why generational housing analysis must be grounded in the institutional and political-economic conditions of specific housing systems.