Accountability can hold different cultural meanings and can be designed in different ways to reflect cultural understandings, needs, and customs. Here, we talk about a particular framework of accountability that is used in the human rights field (called constructive accountability). If you are interested in exploring the topic of accountability from a te ao Māori perspective, you can read about our discussion paper Understanding Accountability for Māori. Constructive accountability has three stages: • Monitoring – the collection of information and data. • Review – including independent review in relation to agreed standards and promises made. • Remedial action – fixing anything that’s wrong or that interferes with the right to a decent home. This remedial action step also helps to ensure people have access to justice. Accountability allows us to see what works so it can be repeated and what doesn’t so it can be changed. It is also a key requirement of the United Nations Guiding Principles for Businesses – businesses should conduct human rights due diligence, and make sure they fix any negative impacts on human rights. Participation allows those who are using your housing services to participate in decisions that impact them. This is important to ensure that the housing services work for those who they are meant to serve and allows them to give unique insights based on their experiences that can help improve the housing you provide and how you provide it. What are the human rights responsibilities for private sector businesses? Private sector obligations will depend on what kind of business or service you provide. Landlords with only one or two properties will have different obligations than large-scale property developers. At a minimum, you are always responsible for respecting human rights, including the right to a decent home. Your responsibilities can include (but are not limited to) these things: 1. Understanding and respecting the right to a decent home as it relates to your business • Provide warm, dry, healthy, secure, decent homes, in accordance with the UN decency housing principles. • Make sure you follow any legislation that helps to protect key features of the right to a decent home such as Healthy Homes standards, which help to ensure we achieve housing decency requirements. • Recognise your obligations arising from te Tiriti o Waitangi. • Ensure you are supporting Māori housing aspirations and needs - for example, intergenerational living and care for Papatūānuku. • Make sure you are providing an appropriate supply of affordable and accessible housing. Universal design principles can be applied to housing to The right to a decent home in Aotearoa – for the private sector 5