Accountability for decent homes

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt has dropped a bombshell for all the political parties with his call for the setting up of a housing watchdog.

The commission has completed a two-year investigation and is scathing about New Zealand’s housing situation, saying successive governments have let all New Zealanders down and not kept their human rights promises.

Hunt has said that later this year the commission will be reporting to the United Nations about government failings in relation to housing.

“But that form of accountability in the United Nations is very weak. What we need is forms of human rights accountability including the right to a decent home here in Aotearoa,” he said.

This would place the right for a decent home for people and communities at the centre of the housing sector, something that is not happening at the moment, he says.

While he gives Labour credit for initiatives like the Healthy Homes Standards and the Housing Acceleration Fund, he says there is still a long way to go.

“If there had been a proper recognition of the right to a decent home some 20 or 30 years ago I very much doubt that the housing crisis would have arisen as it has.”

The commission is also recommending that policymakers integrate the right to a decent home in their processes, and wants to see the appointment of human rights, te Tiriti o Waitangi and equity officers within housing agencies.

From a human rights perspective, the Government must use its maximum available resources to address the housing crisis and ensure this fundamental right is being recognised in Aotearoa New Zealand; and that obligation remains no matter who is in government, he says.

The commission’s final report includes advice for communities and individuals to hold the Government and private sector accountable, and for organisations and policy makers to ensure they uphold human rights and the Treaty.

Many homes, particularly rental properties, were at risk of making people sick due to mould and dampness, and there were significant human rights breaches in the emergency housing system, Hunt said.

Young people, refugee and migrant families, Māori, Pasifika, single parents, elderly and disabled people were disproportionately affected.

Housing affordability has fallen progressively for a long time, to the extent that 1.4 million New Zealanders live in rentals and many can only dream of owning their own home.

The commission has laid out a strong challenge to all political parties to make things better.