融资城市住房提出了住房融资系统的第一次全球性的评估，将宏观经济政策的总体框架内住房和城市发展的挑战。该报告描述和分析了住房融资状况和发展趋势，在世界所有地区，包括正式的住房金融机构，小额贷款和社会资金，突出其相关贫民窟的升级。在住房金融领域近期政策变化是在国际和国家层面进行讨论。该报告还审查可以采取加强住房融资系统，特别是关于实现改善贫民窟居民生活的千年宣言目标的政策方向。

It is estimated that up to 1 billion people live in slums in the cities of the world – one sixth of humanity – and that the numbers are rising. The UN-HABITAT Slum Upgrading Facility Pilot Programme was established in 2004 to examine ways in which innovative finance mechanisms can help address this problem. The Slum Upgrading Facility is a technical cooperation and seed capital facility with a central purpose: to test and develop new financial instruments and methods for expanding private sector finance and public sector involvement in slum upgrading on a large scale. It is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden.

The Slum Upgrading Facility (SUF) operates under the premise that slums can be upgraded successfully when slum dwellers are involved in the planning and design of upgrading projects and able to work collaboratively with a range of other key stakeholders. Slum Upgrading Facility works with local actors to make slum upgrading projects “bankable” – that is, attractive to retail banks, property developers, housing finance institutions, service providers, micro-finance institutions, and utility companies. Slum Upgrading Facility has pilot projects in Ghana, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Tanzania, where various approaches are being tested to support the purpose of the Pilot Programme.

This publication is the abridged and Arabic language edition of Financing Urban Shelter: Global Report on Human Settlements 2005.

Financing Urban Shelter presents the first global assessment of housing finance systems, placing shelter and urban development challenges within the overall context of macroeconomic policies. The report describes and analyses housing finance conditions and trends in all regions of the world, including formal housing finance mechanisms, microfinance and community funding, highlighting their relevance to the upgrading of slums. Recent policy developments in the area of shelter finance are discussed at the international and national levels. The report also examines policy directions that could be taken to strengthen shelter finance systems, particularly with respect to realizing the Millennium Declaration target of improving the lives of slum dwellers.

This publication is a abridged edition of Financing Urban Shelter: Gobal Report on Human Settlements 2005 (the main report).