These are by no means the only initiatives government has developed to combat homelessness. The Aotearoa New Zealand Homelessness Action Plan is one of the key pieces of work in this area, and there are many other housing programmes underway. The current Government has invested a lot of effort and funding into developing a fair and equitable housing system that addresses both homelessness and the circumstances under which people become homeless. Emergency accommodation and transitional housing are two key services created to deliver support to those in immediate and urgent housing need. These services are not just social policy initiatives. They are required by international human rights law. Despite these binding human rights and Tiriti o Waitangi obligations, the data shows more than 100,000 people in Aotearoa New Zealand are experiencing homelessness.1 We have been alarmed by the large volume of problems arising in the emergency housing system – both in emergency accommodation and transitional housing. Chapter 3 of this report reflects what we have heard from people currently in the system and those who have moved through it into longer-term housing, from service providers and advocates, and from people outside the system – family members, friends, people living near emergency housing, and others. In Chapter 4, we identify four immediate human rights obligations, and key features of those obligations, that arise from the right to a decent home in relation to homelessness. These immediate obligations, as drawn from the Guidelines and from international human rights law, provide us with a way to measure government’s front-line response to homelessness, including the emergency housing system, on its human rights performance. In Chapter 5, we ask if the emergency housing system in Aotearoa New Zealand is consistent with these four binding immediate obligations, and outline our findings. Chapter 6 provides our brief constructive recommendations for change to address these human rights breaches, and to improve the emergency housing system. 15