Hostel operators warn Rent Control action could worsen accommodation shortage at KNUST

Private student hostel operators have strongly criticised the Rent Control Department’s attempt to enforce price caps on student accommodation, warning that price controls are an economically failed policy that risks crippling Ghana’s higher education sector.

The hostel owners indicated that private developers stepped in at the direct invitation of public universities to resolve critical bed-capacity shortages that the state could not address, adding that, if the Rent Control forces them to withdraw their services, universities will face accommodation deficits.

Speaking on behalf of the Association, Barrister and ADR Practitioner of the KNUST Hostel Owners Association, Michael Gyang Owusu, clarified that the group was not seeking a legal battle, but found it worrying that the Rent Control Department did not engage them before issuing public directives.