Download Document | |
Document Type: | General |
Primary Author: | HBFC |
Edited By: | Suneela Farooqi |
Published By: | Policy and Planning Division, HBFCL |
Poverty is a multifaceted phenomenon that includes, but goes beyond lack of adequate income. It is inevitable and it can be reduce through a number of resources. Microfinance is one of the means for the poor and low-income people to enhance their standards of living and thus reduce poverty. Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are organization—credit union, down-scaled commercial bank, financial NGO, or credit cooperative—that provides financial services for the poor. The poor rarely access services through the formal financial sector and they prefer and address their need for financial services through a variety of informal financial relationships. Formal financial institutions were not designed to help those who don’t already have financial assets – they were designed to help those who do, which bring in the need for the formation of MFIs. Households around the world consider housing from three perspectives: Housing as Shelter, Housing as Commodity and Housing an Investment. The two classification of Housing Microfinance programs are Micro-credit to Housing Finance (MCHF) and Shelter Advocacy to Housing Finance (SAHF)