The South African government has spent over US$5.2 billion on housing subsidies since 1994 but is still no closer to overcoming the desperate shortage of adequate homes. Government figures show that the housing backlog has continued to grow, even though 1.8 million subsidised houses have been built since 1994 - in 1996 the deficit stood at two million, compared to the current 2.4 million gap between demand and supply.