Executive Summary For many years, successive governments in Aotearoa New Zealand have committed to implement the human right to a decent home, as set out in the International Bill of Human Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Despite these promises, the country faces a housing and human rights crisis caused by decades of neglect. The crisis exposes a failure of public policy and democracy. Democratic institutions with the responsibility to anticipate and swiftly tackle crises have failed to do their job. In August 2021, the Human Rights Commission published Aratohu tika tangata ki te whai whare rawaka i Aotearoa: Framework Guidelines on the right to a decent home in Aotearoa. The Guidelines introduce the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and signal the different ways this human right can contribute to a fair and dynamic housing system. The Commission has a mandate to hold inquiries into human rights issues.1 We have launched a Housing Inquiry which will use the Guidelines as a lens through which to consider the country’s housing system. The Inquiry will generate several short reports on a number of issues and provide constructive recommendations for a range of stakeholders. In this report we consider two key features of the right to a decent home, with particular attention to the kāwanatanga sphere: • constructive accountability • public participation and engagement. Accountability is a crucial feature of good governance, democracy, and human rights. Without accountability, these can easily become window-dressing. Weak accountability undermines housing laws, policies, strategies, plans, and initiatives. This report frames constructive accountability as consisting of three elements: • monitoring • independent review in relation to agreed standards and promises • remedial action. After reviewing the housing system, the report finds that effective and accessible accountability arrangements in relation to the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi do not yet exist in the kāwanatanga sphere. The right to a decent home, and other human rights, requires as much public participation and democratic engagement as possible. Communities are calling for more public participation and democratic engagement in the housing system. This first report of the Inquiry warmly welcomes the new Government Policy Statement on Housing and Urban Development and MAIHI Ka Ora: The Active, informed, inclusive, and meaningful public participation is not easy. However, strengthening public participation and democratic engagement is a way to enhance social cohesion and inclusion. National Māori Housing Strategy 2021-2051. The report finds that, although community 3