Generations of policies disenfranchised tangata whenua and destroyed their traditional ways of living, including communal land ownership. 31. Taken by violence, confiscation and purchase, tangata whenua lost control of 95% of their land. Purchases often breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Native Land Court converted customary collective ownership into individual title, an alien concept to tangata whenua and at odds with tikanga Māori. This process accelerated Māori alienation from their land. Today, land collectively owned by Māori accounts for less than 5% of New Zealand’s total land area. 32. After most of the land was taken from tangata whenua, colonial housing policies made it difficult or impossible for Māori to access home ownership. They were hampered in their efforts to maintain or build traditional forms of housing on communally owned land (papakāinga). As individuals, they struggled to access adequate urban housing. They faced racism in both access to mortgage home ownership and the private rental market. 33. Today, some local and national government rules and practices, as well as Pākehā legal assumptions about individual ownership and denial of rangatiratanga (authority), continue to impede Māori communal and other housing initiatives. Māori have lower rates of home ownership (28%) compared to New Zealand Europeans (57%). Colonial and discriminatory policies were designed to be inequitable and their impact on the housing of Māori persists to this day. At the end of her visit to Aotearoa in 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing likened this to “a dark shadow that hangs over the country”.4 Te Tiriti o Waitangi 34. There is a deep synergy between Te Ao Māori, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (‘Declaration’). Each one bears upon the right to a decent home in Aotearoa. Te Tiriti is interpreted in light of the Declaration. Both instruments are briefly outlined in these paragraphs. 35. Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the country’s foundational document, establishes the relationship between Māori and the Crown. It affirms the status of whānau, hapū and iwi as tangata whenua and recognises their pre-existing rangatiratanga. It envisages a sharing of power and authority and a partnership of equals. Te Tiriti requires government to work in partnership, and share decision-making, with its Tiriti partners, and to respect and support the rangatiratanga authority of tangata whenua. 13