The document is about legislation, policy, programs and practice of housing in South Africa, a resource guide for housing in that country. This resource guide provides an overview of housing legislation and jurisprudence, policy and implementation in South Africa since 1994. The housing terrain in the country is complex, in large part due to the deliberate policy and legislative framework of socio-economic and spatial exclusion and marginalization created during apartheid, but also due to failures on the part of the post-apartheid state to adequately redress these problems since 1994.  As with other socio-economic rights, the legislative and policy framework created by the national government around housing is in fact quite progressive.

However, implementation to date has been skewed and unable to address the land, housing and basic services needs of millions of poor South Africans who still lack adequate housing and access to water, sanitation and electricity. While the urban and rural spatial divide remains pronounced in respect of access to socio-economic goods and services, the phenomenon of the inadequately housed urban poor is increasing. The report explicitly focuses on access to housing in the urban context. Intrinsically related to the provision of adequate housing is access to land, and its implications for urban and spatial planning. The unlocking of well-located urban land for residential purposes for the previously dispossessed in terms of inclusive, transformative urban and spatial planning has lagged behind other forms of transformation in the country.