In Turkey, there is a dual structure as legal-illegal in land development and dwelling production. Government is regulator instead of being direct investor until 1980s in dwelling production. After 1980s, government is both investor and regulator in dwelling production. Also, roles in the land development by acting as both regulator and investor have been empowered by the recent changes in the laws. Private sector has a predominant structure in dwelling production while land development by different landowners is dominant in land development process. The government does not have a clear social housing policy. Even, it can be considered that squatter settlements are a result of the absence of government carrying out its own duty to meet the shelter needs of poor. 29 percent of urban population, a total of 12.5 million people, is living in 2.5 million squatter dwellings in Turkey. This means that there is a serious lacking a social and technical infrastructure arising from illegal housing. Certainly, the structural quality of the housing stock is an important issue in the big cities, and causes serious dangers as the area is likely to be hit by an earthquake sooner or later. Under such a picture, the importance of the land provision for social housing in Turkey is indisputable. The aim of the paper is to discuss the impact of planning and land policy and practices on land provision for social housing in Turkey. That is, it is to examine how effective the planning tools and land policies in solving the housing affordability can be in Turkey.