Soaring cost of housing is ‘human rights failure’

The nation’s housing crisis has become a “massive human rights failure”, the Human Rights Commission has said, as it launches a national inquiry into the problem.

“Successive governments have failed New Zealanders,” chief commissioner Paul Hunt said.

New Zealand has the lowest number of houses available for sale in 14 years, combined with the highest average asking price on record. Auckland is considered one of the world’s least affordable housing markets.