This document is intended to provide elements which link urban extension with growth planning and housing policy, taking as a case study the housing interventions developed in the city of Cordoba (Argentina) during the 2001-2008 period. The structure of the paper introduces the theoretical issues and analyzes the evolution of population growth in the city in three moments and their relationship to the sprawl of the urbanized land. Then, it presents the regulations and planning instruments, a brief characterization of the public housing policy and a description of residential peripheral interventions, urban densities and the actors who materialize them. Finally, it reflects on the limitations of urban growth planning and housing policies. In an urban context where regulation is weak and social gaps are broad, urban sprawl intensifies the inequality in access to land and calls into question the sustainability of the growth model.