Future Living Code Amendment: new planning rules to create greater housing diversity

The proposed Future Living Code Amendment seeks to enable new forms of co-located housing development that allows more homes to be built without impacting on the existing character and streetscape of established suburbs. This Code Amendment encourages existing houses to be retained, altered and extended to create co-located housing, rather than demolished and the site subdivided for multiple homes.

The co-located housing model incorporates communal, open gardens and shared facilities, which could include laundries, rubbish bins, carparking or activity rooms, to help build a sense of community.

Co-located housing design - private space and communal gardens.Each home that is part of the co-located housing development could be bought and sold separately, while the shared garden would be managed through community title.

Initially conceived for older people wishing to downsize in their own community, co-located housing is expected to have appeal across a broad range of South Australians looking for affordable housing options.

The Future Living Code Amendment proposes that a new ‘Co-located housing Overlay’ is incorporated into the Planning and Design Code and be applied to established residential areas within six local council areas: Alexandrina Council, the City of Unley, Town of Walkerville, City of Campbelltown, City of Burnside and City of Prospect. Of these councils, five participated in the ‘Cohousing for Ageing Well Project’ from which much of the momentum for this Code Amendment arose.

While the Future Living Code Amendment currently only proposes to apply the new overlay to six council areas, there is potential to apply it to other parts of South Australia in the future, subject to the necessary investigations and engagement.

Have your say

For more information and to share your feedback, visit the YourSAy website at www.yoursay.sa.gov.au/future-living

Have your say by:

• take the survey
• share feedback about a specific location using a map tool
• Email a submission to plansasubmissions@sa.gov.au
  (subject: Submission – Future Living Code Amendment)
• Post your written submission to:
  Attention: State Planning Commission, GPO Box 1815, Adelaide SA 5001

Background

Momentum for this Code Amendment stems from the:

• Planning for a New Retirement Future Symposium, held in 2018
• Cohousing for Ageing Well Project, which concluded in August 2020
• feedback from the Phase Three (Urban Areas) Code Amendment, introduced in March 2021.

A key recommendation of the ‘Cohousing for Ageing Well Project' was to amend the planning rules to recognise co- located housing as a distinct type of development.

The draft Future Living Code Amendment would achieve this by introducing into the Planning and Design Code a new:

• ‘Co-located Housing Overlay’
• land use definition for 'co-located housing'.

The State Planning Commission has worked in partnership with the University of South Australia, City of Unley, Town of Walkerville, City of Campbelltown, City of Burnside, City of Prospect and Alexandrina Council to develop the draft Code Amendment.

While this new form of housing was conceived for older people wishing to downsize in their own community, co-located housing is expected to appeal to a range of South Australians looking for more diverse, small and affordable housing options.