This commentary responds to the removal of the Kāinga Ora–Homes and Communities Sustaining Tenancies Framework (STF) by the National-led Coalition Government of Aotearoa New Zealand. We suggest that the ideologies informing the removal of the STF are grounded in a long history of colonial housing policies that have led successive governments to politicise Māori housing through punitive policies. Despite recent reports written about Māori housing by both the United Nations and the Waitangi Tribunal advocating for Māori housing as a fundamental human right, the removal of the STF provides an example of how guaranteed housing is treated as a privilege, as opposed to a right.