Guideline 10: Values, such as whanaungatanga (kinship), kaitiakitanga (stewardship), manaakitanga (respect), dignity, decency, fairness, equality, freedom, wellbeing, safety, autonomy, participation, partnership, community and responsibility, are embodied in the right to a decent home. These values, and the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti, must lie at the centre of all housingrelated initiatives in Aotearoa. B. The UN ‘decency’ housing principles 54. Since 1991, the United Nations has repeatedly highlighted seven principles which must be considered when determining whether housing is ‘adequate’ or, to use the language of these Guidelines, ‘decent’.17 The UN ‘decency’ housing principles overlap. The following paragraphs briefly introduce each of the seven ‘decency’ principles which must be read with Te Tiriti and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 55. Habitable Housing must provide for adequate space and protection from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind, structural hazards, disease and other threats to health. It should provide protection from, and mitigate, climate change. The Healthy Homes Standards, established in the Residential Tenancies Act, and HomeFit and Homestar, developed by the New Zealand Green Building Council, elaborate what the habitable ‘decency’ principle means, subject to two qualifications. First, these codes should be revisited by Te Tiriti partners to ensure they conform to Te Tiriti. Second, the codes are a non-exhaustive elaboration of the right to a decent home in Aotearoa.18 56. Affordable Housing costs, including for energy, should not compromise the ability of people to afford other reasonable needs. Tenants should be protected by appropriate means against unreasonable rent levels and increases. 57. Accessible Access has several dimensions, for example, physical, systemic (i.e. without discrimination) and financial (i.e. affordable, see preceding paragraph). A decent home must be accessible to everyone. This is not happening in Aotearoa today. The housing crisis is not confined to disadvantaged groups. A very large number of people who are not historically disadvantaged do not have access to a decent home. However, disadvantaged groups are disproportionately affected by today’s crisis. For example, the rates of home ownership in relation to Pacific peoples, Māori and New Zealand Europeans are 19%, 28% and 57%, respectively.19 Only 2% of the housing stock is physically accessible for disabled people but 1 in 6 people require some form of adaptation. Some of the disadvantaged groups that are finding it especially hard to have access to a decent home are: a) those living in poverty, including people who are homeless e.g. people living in carports, garages, cars, lean-tos, sleepouts, makeshift housing, temporary accommodation, ‘couch-surfing’, and on the street;20 b) tangata whenua; c) Pacific people21 and other ethnic minorities; d) faith-based communities; e) disabled people; Section 3: Key features of the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi 25