Abstract
Residential developments should be fully functional and serviced with basic
infrastructural facilities in order to be habitable. Despite the importance of housing and
basic services, they are a difficult problem for any country. With ever-growing global
population and urbanization, existing urban housing infrastructure is insufficient in
addressing housing needs in many economies. This paper examines the problem of
housing and basic infrastructure delivery and identifies factors which hinder development
and eradication of urban residential infrastructure backlogs. A review of literature related
to housing and urban development was conducted from published and unpublished
literature, based on international and South African context. The study found that barriers
to the eradication of the massive housing and basic services backlogs include issues
related to governance, incapacity/incompetence, corruption, contradictory policies and
systems, stakeholder dynamics, difficult and often cumbersome processes of acquiring
critical resources such as land, finance, and political consent/support. By identifying these
factors as they relate to urban housing and related infrastructure provision, relevant
policies could be designed to help improve housing and basic services delivery.