The scale of the housing problem and the lack of delivery in South Africa is demonstrated by the demand for affordable housing and by the number of people living in slums and informal housing conditions. The crisis is further compounded by the unwillingness of traditional lenders to make loans to low-income earners for housing. On the demand side, the government prides itself on its impressive record of delivery of more than I.8 million houses since 1994. The backlog, however, is monumental as is the number of people under-housed or un-housed has grown rapidly from 2.4 million to 3 million households.