Contents Preface – Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt 3 Acknowledgements 5 Executive summary 6 1. Introduction 8 Brief overview of the Housing Inquiry Te Tiriti o Waitangi: recognising its significance in the right to a decent home 10 Recognising recent efforts made to address the housing crisis 11 Acknowledging the scale of the crisis 12 Human rights as a tool for change 12 2. Integrating human rights and te Tiriti o Waitangi into housing policy making 13 Advancing human rights through the policy approach 14 A new inter-agency human rights National Mechanism 15 A five-step policy cycle 16 A guide towards a housing policy cycle aligned with human rights and te Tiriti o Waitangi 17 Short commentaries on the five-step policy cycle and checklist of questions 18 Responsibility to provide advice on binding international human rights law 23 A modest step forward 24 3. Understanding and asserting your right to a decent home 2 9 25 Everyone has a role to play in the realisation of the right to a decent home 26 What is the right to a decent home in Aotearoa? 27 Where does the right to a decent home come from? 27 The right to a decent home in Aotearoa is shaped by our unique history, context, and values 28 The right to a decent home includes both freedoms and entitlements 28 A decent home has key features that can be measured 29 The full right to a decent home will take time and cannot be achieved overnight 30 A human rights-based housing strategy that honours te Tiriti o Waitangi 31 How can we make sure our rights are protected? 32 The right to a decent home includes a right to meaningful participation 32 Achieving the right to a decent home requires accountability 33 A toolkit to support housing advocacy 33 4. Our recommendations as foundations for change in our housing system 34 Appendix A: Summary of the Inquiry’s findings and recommendations 38 Appendix B: Complete collection of Measuring Progress indicators 40 Appendix C: Toolkit and resources 41 Human Rights Commission