Reducing red tape to create more housing options

The South Australian Government has taken another significant step to create more housing options for granny flats and student accommodation.

From today, councils will have greater powers to approve self-contained accommodation, with the government removing technical definitions which has resulted in planning approvals being denied.

The Ancillary Accommodation and Student Accommodation Definitions Review Code Amendment is open for consultation, with local councils able to implement the proposed changes on an interim basis while consultation is underway.

Ancillary accommodation is the term to describe what are commonly referred to as granny flats.

The code amendment is reviewing the technical definitions for ‘ancillary accommodation’ and ‘student accommodation’ to allow for more self-contained accommodation options.

Under the current code, ancillary accommodation is required to share utilities with the main house, while student accommodation requires common facilities for shared use by students such as cooking and laundry facilities.

Recent planning proposals for self-contained areas incorporating small kitchenettes have been knocked back because it wasn’t technically accepted under the current definitions.

The changes to the Code would mean granny flats will no longer have to share kitchens, bathrooms and laundries with the house, while student accommodation can include individual facilities to be self-contained.

Given the current housing crisis, as well as the need for a greater range of housing options to support both affordability and ageing in place, it is reasonable that the Code should support self-contained accommodation.

Public consultation the Ancillary Accommodation and Student Accommodation Definitions Review Code Amendment is open until 15 April.

For more information and to have your say, visit the YourSAy website.