Despite great achievements in the delivery of housing in 23 years since the end of apartheid (including more than 3.7 million housing subsidies provided1 through the South African reconstruction and devel-opment programme) poverty and socio-spatial segregation continue to grow in South Africa (SA), and there is a tendency of the apartheid patterns being perpetuated by the dynamics of new markets ideo-logies and politics. Indeed, a rising backlog in housing (2.1 million in 2016), together with a perpetuation of informal settlements (2 600 settlements that house 13% of SA’s households) and the prevalence of hundreds of “illegally” occupied inner city buildings (such as in Johannesburg) illustrates the limited ca-pacity of the government to provide the poor and vulnerable in the country with adequate solutions. While South Africa is a country with one of the most progressive constitutions in the world and a pro-gressive and innovative policy framework, the problem mainly lies in their implementation on the ground. Within this context, the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) is a non-profit human rights organisation trying to address the gap between policy and implementation by working with communities, social movements, individuals and other non-profit organisations to develop and implement strategies to challenge inequality and realise socio-economic rights for the vulnerable and poor. The organisation was founded in 2010 and provides legal advice and representation, research services and advocacy support to its clients and partners.