Abstract
Aotearoa New Zealand has an increasing homeless population. Yet, the current legal framework fails to protect and provide for homeless people. Instead, Aotearoa New Zealand has a matrix of laws that perpetuate and harm homeless people and those most at risk of homelessness. To date, there has been little effort by the Legislature to understand the experiences of Māori in relation to housing policy and homelessness. This dissertation aims to provide an alternative approach to this trajectory. By viewing homelessness as a legal issue, this dissertation provides a space for the law to take accountability and provide meaningful change to the lives of homeless people. This dissertation focuses particularly on homeless Māori because they are overrepresented in homelessness statistics. Therefore, the approach taken by the law must be appropriate to help homeless people generally, but specifically homeless Māori.