Accountability & participation in the housing system
Accountability is a crucial feature of good governance, democracy, and human rights. Without accountability, these can easily become window-dressing. Weak accountability undermines housing laws, policies, strategies, plans, and initiatives.
In December 2021, the Human Rights Commission released a report on accountability and public participation in the housing system. Constructive accountability in the housing system should consist of three elements: monitoring, independent review in relation to agreed standards and promises, and remedial action.
The report finds 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 (government) sphere.
The report also focuses on public participation. The right to a decent home, and other human rights, requires as much public participation and democratic engagement as possible. Communities are calling for more public participation and democratic engagement in the housing system. Active, informed, inclusive, and meaningful public participation is not easy. However, strengthening public participation and democratic engagement is a way to enhance social cohesion and inclusion. The report finds that, although community participation and democratic engagement already have a place in the country’s housing system, they need strengthening, and the report explores how this can be achieved in the kāwanatanga space.
This report makes the following key recommendations:
1. An Act of Parliament which sets out key principles and Tiriti obligations to guide all housing initiatives.
2. An independent constructive accountability mechanism for the housing system.
3. An independent advisory and advocacy group grounded in te Tiriti with responsibilities to:
- a. Advise
- b. Commission research
- c. Draft housing charters/codes
- d. Enable the voices of those with lived experience of the housing system.
The recommendations will reinforce the direction of travel set out by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. Moreover, they are mandated by the right to a decent home grounded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
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Accountability & participation in the housing system
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te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations
An Act of Parliament which sets out key principles and te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations to guide all housing initiatives.
Download te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations
Constructive mechanisms
An independent constructive accountability mechanisms for the housing system.
Download Constructive mechanisms
Advisory Group
An independent advisory and advocacy group grounded in te Tiriti o Waitangi with responsibilities to advise, commission research, draft housing charters/codes and enable the voices of those with lived experience of the housing system.
Download Advisory Group
Understanding accountability in an Ao Māori context
In 2023 The Commission released the discussion paper, Understanding Accountability for Māori. This paper highlights a lack of effective and constructive accountability for housing by the Crown to Māori, explores what te ao Māori accountability could look like, and ways this could be structured in the housing sector to progress the right to a decent home and address housing equity issues for tangata whenua. Two independent researchers in collaboration with the Commission’s Tangata Whenua team led and facilitated the work. The paper hopes to spark discussion among communities around this issue of accountability, so that the ideas in the report can be further developed.
Download Understanding accountability in an Ao Māori context
Accountability & participation in the housing system
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Accountability & participation in the housing system
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