A fundamental goal of South Africa’s housing policy is to enhance access to housing finance for low-income earners. Housing finance continues to be seen as a critical component of the government’s overall housing policy in that it offers the opportunity for individual households to actively participate in improving their own housing circumstances rather than relying solely on government provision. Further, it assists families in realizing the asset value of their houses. While the 1994 housing policy set up an array of measures and institutions to facilitate increased access to bank and non-bank housing finance, very little research has considered the actual impact that these efforts have had. In 2004, a decade on, is it possible to say that they have been successful? Has access to housing finance broadened and deepened?. Despite government’s significant achievement in the delivery of over 1,6 million housing units2 in the 10 years since 1994, there is still a sizeable housing shortfall in South Africa. Fin Scope TM finds that 22% of the adult population3 lives in informal dwellings.