Executive summary The Human Rights Commission has a statutory mandate to hold inquiries into human rights issues.2 In 2021, we launched an Inquiry into the right to a decent home. The Housing Inquiry includes reports and other interventions on several housing issues and provides constructive recommendations for a range of stakeholders. We recognise the current Government faces a housing crisis largely created by decades of institutional neglect. Aotearoa New Zealand suffers from years of undersupply in housing, stemming in part from historic governmental policy to sell off state housing stock. This undersupply has been compounded by drastic house price increases and an increasing lack of affordable rental supply. The Government also faces other complicating factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and response, serious building industry supply issues, and a challenging global economic environment. Some of these factors have driven increased hardship and poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Government has invested very significant effort and funding to develop a system that tackles and lessens both homelessness and the circumstances in which people become homeless. Our Inquiry builds on the Commission’s recent publication, Aratohu tika tangata ki te whai whare rawaka i Aotearoa: Framework Guidelines on the right to a decent home in Aotearoa.3 The Guidelines outline 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. 10 This report focuses on the emergency housing system, which is government’s frontline response to homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand. The emergency housing system includes a range of initiatives, but this report considers two core aspects: emergency accommodation funded by a housing grant, and transitional housing delivered by contracted service providers. In September 2022 we issued a public call asking those with experience of the emergency housing system to contact us and share their perspectives. Our report summarises what we heard and provides some personal testimonies (chapter 3). What we heard is distressing. In many respects the system has failed those who need the most help. Instead of supporting people through housing insecurity into sustainable solutions, the frontline response to homelessness can deepen problems and trauma that continue to affect people long after they have left the system. In chapter 4, we identify four immediate human rights obligations that arise from the right to a decent home in relation to homelessness: Immediate obligation 1: Provide emergency housing that meets minimum decency standards and other key features of the right to a decent home. Immediate obligation 2: Do not evict anyone into homelessness. Immediate obligation 3: Uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi alongside other human rights obligations. 2 Human Rights Act 1993, section 5(2)(h). 3 Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission, Aratohu tika tangata ki te whai whare rawaka i Aotearoa: Framework Guidelines on the right to a decent home in Aotearoa, August 2021. https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/7416/2784/4778/Framework_Guidelines_on_the_ Right_to_a_Decent_Home_in_Aotearoa_FINAL.pdf. Human Rights Commission