ABSTRACT
South Africa's housing situation must be understood within a challenging socio-economic setting. The idea of a state locked into meaningless rituals speaks to the inability over the past decade or more to change in any significant way the interface between housing budget and the reality of poor urban households. Informal settlement households qualifying for the once-off capital subsidy were offered, and often forcefully relocated to, completed units in distant housing developments. South African civil society, NGOs, academics and progressive housing practitioners are currently asking whether a substantial housing policy change is imminent. Cross explores the interface between social grants and housing delivery, suggesting that 'many or most' newly formed households in Johannesburg's poor settlements include very little human capital, and have few if any members in a position to enter the labour market or earn income. The current, fourth term of African National Congress (ANC) government has seen some important shifts in political commitment to housing.
