Bridging the Finance Gap in Housing and Infrastructure concentrates on how groups of poor people – coalitions of the poor around the world have been able and been enabled to lead the process of transforming slums into vibrant and stable neighbourhoods. It showcases the strategies and the dedication, commitment and achievement of one northern NGO – Homeless International – as it has pioneered new approaches to analyzing and helping to arrange finance for community-led slum upgrading. This is a very encouraging story. It confirms that the homeless poor in the world’s slums should never be dismissed as the helpless victims of urbanization. Technically, this book is valuable for the explanation of how innovative financing packages can be arranged for slum upgrading programmes. But primarily, it is about human rights and how institutions and organizations respect and help people to realize their rights.