WUFII/4/04 Financing and Mobilising Domestic Capital for Slum Upgrading Barcelona 14 September 2004: “The internationally agreed development goals regarding slum dwellers can only be achieved by fostering the democratic and economic freedom needed to unleash the human and financial resources already present in the countries themselves”, said Hon. Dennis Shea, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, at the World Urban Forum in Barcelona. He said that the United States is committed to developing and sharing innovative financing solutions that mobilize domestic resources while incorporating the interests of slum dwellers, the private sector, governments, and local authorities. Are the urban poor bankable? Do they pay regularly for the loans they take from commercial banks? Commercial Bank representatives from Standard Bank, South Africa and Sewa Bank, India argued that the poor are bankable and do exhibit much greater sincerity in meeting their debt obligations. The urban poor are excellent client, provided one understands their specific requirements and establishes flexible and adaptive schedules of repayments. Hon. Amos Kimunya, Minister of Land and Housing Government of Kenya described the efforts of government of Kenya to develop a national slum upgrading programme and the pilot project of slum upgrading in Nairobi being carried out with support of UN-HABITAT. Representatives of local authorities from Bogota, Colombia, and Johannesburg, South Africa described the experiences of their cities in dealing with slum upgrading. International agencies, like IFC and CMHC of Canada described the experiences of mobilising domestic capital for housing and identified various risk mitigation instruments which enable the commercial banks and entities to lend to the poor. The dialogue discussed various issues such as affordability, risk mitigation, and mortgage finance for the urban poor. The dialogue also addressed issues related to financing pro-poor infrastructure investments. The discussions concluded that international agencies have to play a major role to ensure that the target of improving lives of urban slum dwellers is achieved. The proposed Slum Upgrading Facilities of UN-HABITAT was appreciated and various suggestions and guidelines on establishing strategic partnerships among public, private and communities were discussed to stimulate pro-poor investment in human settlements. For further information, please contact: Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson & Head, Press & Media Relations Unit or Ms. Zahra A. Hassan, Tel: (254 020) 623153, 623151, Fax: (254 020) 624060, E-mail: habitat.press@unhabitat.org, Website: www.unhabitat.org Or Mr. Dinesh Mehta, Tel: (254 20 ) 623414