Capital and Power in the Governance of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Community Housing Sector

This article examines governance in publicly funded community housing organizations in Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on qualitative research with six agencies, we analyse who exercises power and influence, how authority is legitimized, and the implications for representation and accountability. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital, and habitus we show how CHP governance privileges technical and professional forms of capital, with members expected to act on behalf of tenants, communities, and Māori. While this approach provides organizational stability and expertise, it limits direct tenant participation and does not necessarily produce meaningful accountability to Māori or iwi. We further demonstrate how funding arrangements, regulatory frameworks, and political priorities constrain alternative governance models, despite aspirations for greater community and Indigenous participation. By examining governance in a settler-colonial context, we extend Bourdieusian analyses of governance and highlight eduring questions of accountability, legitimacy, and power within the community housing sector.