Socio-economic effects of uncompleted residential buildings in Kumasi’s peri-urban settlements of Ghana, Africa

Cities are defined predominantly as physical structures. These physical structures are mainly characterized by residential facilities and buildings. Housing in many studies is considered as a significant determiner and tool for socio-economic development. Housing, particularly,quality housing for many households in developing economies is highly complex and capital intensive. Many households are constrained with several factors in the quest for housing developments. The results of these are uncompleted houses. Focusing on Abrepo, Sepetimpom, and Kotei in Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana, this paper assesses the reasons accounting for uncompleted residential buildings in the study areas. Using the Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, the paper further evaluates the level of agreement among respondents on the socio-economic effects of dwelling in uncompleted residential buildings. Using a case study, qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study revealed that financial constraints, unwarranted design variations, land litigations inter aliawere the most significant reasons underpinning the uncompleted residential houses. The study revealed that susceptibility of uncompleted housing unit to poor sanitary conditions, outbreak of disease, loss of economic value of the housing units, poor academic performance of childrenwas among the socio-economic effects of uncompleted residential buildings.