Taking Shelter Housing Finance for the Worlds Poor explores recent innovations in housing microfinance presented by the innovators themselves from field researchers and financial providers to investors and regulators. It is a key reference to any reader interested in expanding housing finance for the worlds poor.How do lowincome families representing some 70 of the worlds population finance home building and improvements and how is the financial sector from microfinance institutions and banks to investors and regulators changing to serve their needsThe practice of housing microfinance has evolved substantially with a large number of innovations across the entire housing financing ecosystem. New research methodologies such as financial diaries have yielded a deeper and more nuanced understanding of how poor households use finance both formal and informal to construct their homes.The housing finance industry is also growing.