Finding a home away from home: Housing choices of itinerant immigrant retailers in the Wa municipality, Ghana

Globally, cross-border migration has become a common phenomenon as people search for social and economic prospects and opportunities. Intra-regional migration and trade, as espoused in several treaties, are expected to encourage the movement of people, goods and services across national borders. Among those involved in intra-Africa migration are itinerant retailers who have been variously studied, albeit with little attention to their housing choices when they arrive in destination areas. This study draws evidence from Wa to examine the residential choices of itinerant immigrant retailers using a qualitative research approach via in-depth interviews with 22 immigrants, eight landlords and four informal rent agents. The itinerant immigrants were contacted at the Wa central market as well as their popular networking and relaxation spaces in town. The responses obtained from the interviews were categorized into themes and presented in narrations and quotations. The study found that itinerant immigrants preferred low-income residential neighbourhoods close to the central business district that they secure through friends and relatives and informal rent agents. However, the housing units were generally bereft of basic amenities, and they face tenant-landlord and tenant-tenant conflicts over the payment of utility bills and home maintenance, as well as overpricing of rent by the informal rent agents. Efforts to regulate the activities of informal rent agents and petty landlords to provide minimal protection for immigrants should be the way forward in dealing with the challenges.