Innovative strategies to enhance shelter finance based around the strengthening of savings and savings organizations can transform conventional finance into a catalyst for empowerment and development. Savings and loans increase local community development options by building confidence, securing recognition from state agencies and providing financial assets. In such programmes, money is no longer simply a means of exchange enabling the poor to participate in financial markets; money becomes a unifying force enabling people to enhance the resources that are immediately available to them and develop their collective skills. There are multiple benefits for local groups including the improvement of housing and neighbourhoods. The report summarises discussions at a workshop in June 2004 with participants from Africa, Asia and Latin America