South Africa and many other developing countries throughout the world are facing serious public housing challenges. The public housing backlog has reached crisis proportions and these countries are struggling to meet the increasing demands for public housing. This paper attempts to provide an overview of the global models, approaches and trends regarding the development of public housing policies. The paper looks at the development of public housing policy in selected parts of the world, namely the United States of America (USA), Great Britain, Germany and South Africa. The primary reason for selecting these countries is to analyze how their respective public housing policies were developed. Similarities and differences in housing policies in the developed and developing countries are then used as pointers for the developing countries.
