2. An Overarching Housing Strategy As the Guidelines confirm, central and local government must have a human rights-based housing strategy grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi.3 This strategy is a key feature of the right to a decent home: A housing strategy operates at a higher level than a housing policy or programme. It has a vision of change over time and engages numerous bodies, including central and local government. It coordinates a wide range of government departments, laws, policies, programmes, and initiatives that, when taken together, create a housing system.4 The Government Policy Statement on Housing and Urban Development (GPSHUD) and MAIHI Ka Ora: The National Māori Housing Strategy 2021-2051 (MAIHI Ka Ora) provide a welcome shift towards the type of housing strategy required by human rights. GPS-HUD sets out the direction of travel for housing and urban development for the next 30 years, and MAIHI Ka Ora draws on the earlier Māori and Iwi Innovation Framework for Action (MAIHI). The visions for GPS-HUD and MAIHI Ka Ora are, respectively: Everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand lives in a home, and within a community, that meets their needs and aspirations. All whānau have safe, healthy, affordable homes with secure tenure, across the Māori housing continuum. This report does not set out what a comprehensive human rights-based housing strategy grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi would look like, nor does it critique GPS-HUD and MAIHI Ka Ora in detail. Rather, it makes constructive suggestions for improvement, with a focus on accountability and public participation as GPS-HUD and MAIHI Ka Ora are rolled out. Both documents are game changers which, read in concert with the other government documents outlined in the GPS-HUD, move closer to an overarching housing strategy than any recent document in Aotearoa.6 GPS-HUD re-establishes, in principle, housing’s primary role as a home rather than a financial asset, and MAIHI Ka Ora is an expression of the articles (not principles) of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Both documents affirm a “by Māori, with Māori, for Māori” approach. We accept GPS-HUD for what it is: “a shared, aspirational vision and direction for housing and urban development in Aotearoa New Zealand over the next 30 years.”7 The enormous challenge is effective implementation. The first implementation plan is expected in the first quarter of 2022. MAIHI Ka Ora is a significant step forward in the approach to housing for Māori whānau, hapū and iwi.8 As Jade Kake puts it: The strategy takes a systems thinking approach, acknowledging the complexity of our housing system, our system failures, and therefore the range of responses required. It’s long range, with a life span of 30 years 9