Human Settlement Department of Republic of South Africa on national housing program. The Department of Human Settlements and the National Business Initiative produced a Housing Process Guide in 1997. During the 12 years since then, tremendous progress has been made with delivery, and the National Housing Program and Housing Code has also evolved based on experience and changing needs. This Housing Project Process Guide has been developed for the three specific programmes which are mostly utilised for subsidised housing development, namely, the Integrated Residential Development Program, the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme, and Rural Housing Subsidies: Communal Land Rights Program.

The previous guide emphasised the contractual relationships between parties in addition to the processes to be followed. At that stage there was also a focus on social compacts and private developer driven housing developments. The new Housing Code is comprehensive and includes detailed examples of contracts and contractual relationships, as well as many specific guidelines to assist the developer of any project. A major change since 1997 is that the public sector organs have assumed the role of developer of subsidy housing projects, although the private sector is still involved in the implementation of the project. The Government has also created a Housing Development Agency to inter alia act as developer of housing projects or which may assume a developer role. The terminology used is that “Developer” means the Government department at provincial or local level that is responsible for implementing the project. “Contractor” means any private company or individual contracted by government to fulfil a function on the project whether it is managing the project, providing a professional service (deliver housing goods and/or services) or doing construction.