A human rights-based housing strategy that honours te Tiriti o Waitangi The right to a decent home is also about our housing system. Making the right to a decent home a reality while also honouring te Tiriti o Waitangi, doesn’t happen by chance. It requires a housing system that is fundamentally based on human rights and an overarching housing strategy. A housing strategy operates at a higher level than a housing policy or programme. It envisions change over time. It also engages numerous bodies, including central and local government, laws, policies, programmes, and initiatives. Many human rights contribute constructively to a housing strategy, including the rights to water and sanitation, cultural life, and participation. A human rights-based housing strategy shaped by and giving effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi, must have the right to a decent home at its centre. There are some key features of a human rightsbased housing strategy that are necessary for Aotearoa. For example, a human rights-based housing strategy: • adopts a whole-of-government approach • responds to the effects of colonisation • prioritises those who are most in need and ensures equity, equality, and nondiscrimination • includes short-term and long-term commitments for adequate resourcing • includes reasonable human rights-based goals and timelines • ensures meaningful rights-based participation • includes effective monitoring and accountability of the strategy’s implementation • clarifies and upholds the responsibilities of the private sector. The United Nations has recommended that New Zealand adopts a human rights-based national housing strategy.43 Canada has already gone down this track. Its National Housing Strategy Act 2019 explicitly recognises housing as a human right and requires the development of a National Housing Strategy that supports the progressive realisation of that right. In Aotearoa, the Government Policy Statement on Housing and Urban Development recognises the right to a decent home and acknowledges the government’s role in making it happen,44 but it does not yet reflect the essential key features of a human rights-based housing strategy. In the previous chapter, we signalled how policy makers can integrate the right to a decent home and te Tiriti into housing policy-making processes. This would be a welcome step towards a human rights-based housing strategy. 3. Understanding and asserting your right to a decent home 31