The Tenancy Tribunal is established by the same Act and may determine disputes between landlords and tenants that fall within the scope of the legislation. Recent law reforms have extended the Tribunal’s jurisdiction to include new Healthy Homes standards in rental properties, including heating, insulation, and ventilation. The Tribunal has a range of powers, including imposing fines and awarding damages. However, the Tenancy Services and Tribunal rarely refer to human rights or apply a human rights lens, which is a missed opportunity for advancing housing rights. A notable exception is a recent Tribunal decision: Homes which do not comply with the Healthy Homes standards arguably abrogate their occupants’ constitutional right to life, enshrined in s 8 [New Zealand Bill of Rights Act] 1990 and … Art 6 United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.22 There are other concerns. Data shows that about 80% of the cases taken to the Tribunal are brought by landlords, most often in relation to rent arrears and termination of tenancy. In her recent report on New Zealand, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing expressed misgivings: “access to justice through the Tenancy Tribunal remains unbalanced and continues to disadvantage tenants.”23 She wrote that her “principal concern is the limited capacity for public inspections to ensure that the healthy homes standards are adhered to.”24 In summary, Tenancy Services and Tribunal are unusual because together they provide all three elements of accountability: monitoring, review, and remedial action. Unquestionably, Tenancy Services and Tribunal have significant shortcomings. Nonetheless, they have the potential to become a significant formal accountability mechanism for the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Parliament Parliament, and its committees, is Aotearoa’s apex accountability body. Does it provide effective and accessible accountability in relation to the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi? Some Ministers and MPs across the House have referred to the right to housing (or equivalent phrases) in Parliament, with a few consistently asserting that housing is a basic human right. There is no Parliamentary mechanism that requires the right to housing to be considered systematically in the same way as, for example, the Attorney-General’s New Zealand Bill of Rights Act reports. The Bill of Rights Act requires the AttorneyGeneral to consider if proposed legislation is consistent with the Bill of Rights Act and provide a report back to Parliament to highlight any inconsistencies. In rare cases these reports have identified inconsistencies in housing legislation relating to discrimination, which is one key feature of the right to a decent home. This alone is not effective accountability in relation to the other features of this human right. The Parliamentary Social Services and Community Committee This committee has annual oversight of the social housing sector. In relation to 2019/20, the committee directed over 300 written questions to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Kāinga Ora, and held two in-person hearings with officials on 17th and 23rd February 2021. 15