Background and context Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission Housing Inquiry The Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission is conducting an inquiry into the right to a decent home in Aotearoa. The Inquiry is conducted under section 5(2)(h) of the Human Rights Act 1993 “to inquire generally into any matter, including any enactment or law, or any practice, or any procedure, whether governmental or nongovernmental if it appears to the Commission that the matter involves, or may involve, the infringement of human rights”. The Inquiry will: • gather and review housing data and information against New Zealand’s national and international standards on the right to a decent home in Aotearoa, grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, as articulated by the guidelines5 • assess whether these human rights obligations are being honoured and whether duty bearers are in breach • report its findings and recommendations to promote and progress the right to a decent home. Strengthening accountability and participation in the housing sector In December 2021, Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission published its first report, which “focuses on accountability and public participation in the kāwanatanga sphere (Article 1, Te Tiriti o Waitangi)”6 and notes explicitly that what works in this sphere may not necessarily align with Te Ao Māori or can extend to Māori spaces, strategies, mechanisms, and institutions. The report highlights the Inquiry’s intention to consider accountability in relation to tino rangatiratanga. Drawing on the first report, this discussion paper aims to understand what ‘constructive accountability’ means in an Ao Māori context. This approach is critical to ensuring that the housing system honours and gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The first report finds that “Aotearoa’s housing system should have effective and accessible accountability, that is monitoring, review (independent and non-political), and remedial action in relation to the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”7 The report acknowledges that further consideration and discussion are needed to assess whether this understanding of accountability as monitoring, review and remedial action is consistent with Te Ao Māori: “If this is not consistent with Te Ao Māori, what is a more appropriate way to understand accountability for Aotearoa? Until those discussions have taken place, it is premature to apply accountability, understood as monitoring, review, and remedial action, to tino rangatiratanga (Article 2, Te Tiriti o Waitangi). Therefore, for present purposes, we confine our consideration of accountability and the right to a decent home to the kāwanatanga sphere (Article 1, Te Tiriti o Waitangi).”8 The report also recognises that, if Māori are to be heard and Māori experiences and perspectives are given space and weight, Te Ao Māori concepts of housing must be equally understood and valued both at the constitutional partnership level and in local public participation and democratic 11