Co-housing Project

A significant number of older residents face few choices to ‘downsize’ in their current neighbourhood when their housing no longer suits their needs or when they wish to avoid living alone.

The State Planning Commission worked in partnership with the Office for Ageing Well, the University of South Australia (UniSA) along with the Cities of Unley, Burnside, Prospect and Walkerville on a co-housing project to test what housing options might be possible in response to the needs of older residents. The project involved four detailed design studies focusing on new opportunities for existing housing.

This project, significant in its scope and broad in its application, for the first time explored a major gap in housing opportunities – the ‘missing middle’ of Adelaide’s older suburbs. The project responded to demographic data that illustrated by 2036 that one in three households in South Australia is anticipated to have just one occupant, many of whom will be over the age of 65.

The project investigated how existing older houses in Adelaide might be altered and extended to create one or more additional dwellings on an existing site to create socially cohesive co-housing arrangements for older residents wishing to stay in their own home – often referred to as ‘ageing in place’.

In May 2021, the ‘Co-housing for Ageing Well Project’ won the Community Partnerships and Collaboration category of the Local Government Professionals Australia’s SA Leadership Excellence Awards Program and has been shortlisted as a finalist the 5^thGuangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation.

Future Living Code Amendment

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

The draft Future Living Code Amendment achieves this by proposing to introduce a new ‘Co-located Housing Overlay’ and ‘co-located housing’ land use definition into the Planning and Design Code.

The Government of South Australia has worked in partnership with the University of South Australia, Alexandrina Council, City of Unley, Town of Walkerville, City of Campbelltown, City of Burnside and City of Prospect 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 affordable housing options.

The State Planning Commission sought feedback on the draft Future Living Code Amendment from 15 August to 7 November 2024 and received about 260 submissions.

Outcomes

A number of changes have been made to the Code Amendment in response to feedback received during consultation, which are outlined in the engagement report.

Based on these changes, the Minister for Planning dividedthe code amendment into two separate parts, adopting Part 1 on 26 April 2025.

Part 1 – introduces new policies into the Planning and Design Code (including the new land use definition, new Co-located Housing Overlay, and amendments to the Established Neighbourhood Zone, overlays and general development policies)
Part 2 – introduces where the Co-located Housing Overlay will apply to the Established Neighbourhood Zone, following the six participating councils’ consideration of the approved policy.

Part 1 of the Code Amendment was deployed into the Planning and Design Code on 15 May 2025 and forms part of the Code policy library.

Following the six participating councils’ consideration of the approved policy, the Minister adopted Part 2 of the Code Amendment with these changes being deployed into the Code on 25 September 2025.

Part 2 of the Code Amendment applies the new Co-located Housing Overlay to the Established Neighbourhood Zone of the following local government areas:

City of Unley
Town of Walkerville
City of Campbelltown
Alexandrina Council
City of Burnside – only where the Historic Area Overlay also applies in the Established Neighbourhood Zone, as requested by the council.

The overlay has not been applied in the City of Prospect.

Now that both parts of the Code Amendment have been finalised and come into effect, development applications for co-located housing can be lodged and assessed in the council areas where the Co-located Housing Overlay applies.

Visit the PlanSA Co-located housing webpage for further information, including a how to guide for co-located housing, fact sheet and co-located housing scheme description/by-laws templates.