Twenty-eight years into post-apartheid democracy, housing provision in South Africa remains dominated by the apartheid government's legacy of spatial and socioeconomic inequality. Social cohesion is poor and environmentally unsustainable living conditions are rife in the country's informal settlements. Despite the government's efforts, housing provision is caught between providing housing for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable and those wishing to access the housing market but who cannot because they have limited access to housing finance and also do not earn enough. The latter live mostly in rented accommodation on the edges of homeownership and housing provision. Households from this segment (known as the 'gap market') are marginalised, living in slums, with little or no access to shelter, water and sanitation, transport and waste removal. Thus far, government policy for the gap market has resulted in a backlog in the supply of affordable, sustainable housing in general, and affordable housing in particular. This chapter reviews sustainable public housing policy in South Africa and other BRICS countries to report on lessons for improving affordable housing policy in the context of sustainable development.
Human Sciences Research Council (2026) studied this question.