Human Rights Foundation says renters and disabled people bear the brunt
New Zealand has made "almost no progress" in realising the right to a decent home since 2023, according to a new report from the Aotearoa New Zealand Human Rights Foundation, which found the country is "running backwards" on both housing rights and Te Tiriti commitments.
Renters bear a disproportionate cost burden
The report, as reported by RNZ, found renters spending 30% or more (45.9%) or 40% or more (28.4%) of their disposable income on housing, compared with just 14.8% of homeowners spending 40% or more — a gap the foundation says gives renters in Aotearoa one of the highest rates of severe housing cost overburden in the OECD.
Foundation chairperson Aaron Packard said government policy had moved in the wrong direction.
"Recent government policy has moved in the opposite direction, entrenching inequality and reinforcing the treatment of housing as a speculative asset," Packard said.
The report identified several specific policy shifts it says breach housing rights obligations previously set out by the Human Rights Commission.
Emergency housing applications are now being declined at far higher rates — 33.2% between October 2025 and March 2026, up from just 4% in March 2024 — with nearly 30% of those declined receiving no alternative support.
Kāinga Ora evictions have also risen sharply, from zero two years ago to 74 households in 2024/25, disproportionately affecting Māori and Pacific tenants, while the agency abandoned its target of making 15% of new homes accessible for disabled people in May 2026.
Government says progress is underway
The foundation is calling for the reinstatement of Kāinga Ora's accessibility targets, removal of conditions limiting access to emergency housing and social tenancies, and dedicated funding for Māori-led housing, alongside greater independent oversight of Crown housing decisions.
Housing minister Chris Bishop said he hadn't yet had the chance to read the report but defended the government's broader approach.
"We are making progress but there is more to do," Bishop said, adding that the housing crisis was "years in the making and will take years to fix."
The report lands as New Zealand's housing market undergoes its steepest downturn in decades — Infometrics analysis published this month found the current price correction is the second-biggest in 75 years of data, behind only the slump of the late 1970s and early 1980s — though falling purchase prices have limited relevance for renters and social housing tenants, who remain largely outside that part of the market.
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