This is a press statement from UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing at the end of her 10-day visit to New
Zealand.
The Government of New Zealand has recognized that the country is facing a housing crisis, said Leilani Farha, UN Special
Rapporteur on the right to housing, at the end of her visit to the country.
“While the Government has taken important steps to improve the situation, solving the root causes of the crisis,
however, will require a more ambitious, innovative and courageous approach,” said Farha.
“When one in every hundred people is homeless, half of whom are under 25 years; when thousands are living in vehicles or
housed in motels provided by the State; when houses are in such disrepair that they cause otherwise preventable illness
and disease; and when middle income earners are finding it difficult to afford an accessible and decent home, the result
is not just a housing crisis, it is a human rights crisis of significant proportions. These conditions indicate not only
violations of the right to housing, but also of the right to health, security and life.
“At the root of the crisis is a speculative housing market that has been supported by successive governments who have
promoted homeownership as an investment, while until recently discontinuing the provision of social housing and
providing inadequate tenant protection.”
The human rights crisis has hit the most marginalized the hardest: Māori, Pacific peoples, people with disabilities,
single parents, LGBTQI+, immigrants and others, said the Special Rapporteur.
“It is not clear to me that the Government has pursued all options to address the housing crisis. It will take courage
and new ideas, and it may require taking what are perceived as politically unpopular decisions, such as imposing a
capital gains tax on the sale of residential properties, rent freezes, innovative uses of vacant homes, and tighter
regulation of short term rental platforms.
“A human rights crisis demands a human rights response. The Government must recognize in national law that housing is a
fundamental human right requiring legal protection. In my view New Zealand must also adopt a comprehensive rights-based
housing strategy that focuses on structural changes and that sets short- and long-term targets and establishes
monitoring and accountability mechanisms.
“It is encouraging that the Waitangi Tribunal will undertake a housing inquiry. I would hope that the inquiry would be
informed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which provides a right to be actively
involved in housing programmes affecting them and to administer those through their own institutions.
“It is time to bring human rights home so that all people in New Zealand can enjoy the right to housing,” concluded
Farha.