Conclusion Aotearoa’s housing system should have effective and accessible accountability arrangements: • monitoring • review (both independent and political) • remedial action in relation to the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Our brief review confirms that effective and accessible accountability arrangements in relation to the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi do not yet exist in the kāwanatanga sphere.26 This accountability deficit places New Zealand in breach of its legally binding international human rights obligations. Crucially, weak accountability undermines housing laws, policies, strategies, plans, and initiatives. In its submission on GPS-HUD, the Citizens Advice Bureau said: We think that a system of universal monitoring and enforcement is needed, carried out by a neutral agency.28 From the perspective of human rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, it is very important that the government urgently finds ways of strengthening accountability in relation to the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Recommendation An independent constructive accountability mechanism for the housing system. The final chapter outlines the way forward. It provides suggestions for how this mechanism could be designed and established. In her recent report on New Zealand, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing recommended: [the Government should] Further improve the monitoring and implementation of housing policies by establishing independent accountability … mechanisms.27 17

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