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。

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).