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The ACT government has announced a series of zoning reforms that would allow more townhouses and other low-rise housing types to be built in Canberra’s suburbs.
The new reforms will amend the ACT’s Territory Plan to remove the barriers obstructing the development of middle-density housing in the territory, and support the delivery of a more diverse range of housing options.
The ACT government said the changes will enable the development of low-rise homes to support the territory’s progress towards its national housing target of 30,000 new homes by 2030.
Minister for Planning and Sustainable Development, Chris Steel, said that the proposed reforms aim to permit the development of homes that can serve as the “missing middle” of Canberra’s housing supply.
“We want to provide more homes for Canberrans where they want to live, and that means making sure we’ve got the right policies in place to deliver more housing choice in Canberra’s existing suburbs,” Steel said.
Currently in Canberra, Residential Land Zone 1 (RZ1) makes up 79.7 per cent of residential land in the ACT, and is primarily designated for low-density, low-rise residential developments such as single dwelling houses.
The new reforms would remove minimum block sizes for additional dwellings in Suburban Zone (RZ1) areas, while also allowing block subdivisions and permitting townhouses, terraces, and low-rise apartments to be built up to two storeys.
Steel said that block consolidation would change zoning rules to make better use of existing land and offer more diverse housing options across the ACT.
“Right now Canberra is characterised by single dwelling detached homes in the suburbs and high-rise apartments in our town centres, without much housing stock in-between,” Steel said.
“These ‘missing middle’ housing reforms will permit low-rise multi-occupancy homes (2-3+ homes on a block), townhouses, terrace homes and low-rise apartments in existing RZ1 and RZ2 zoned residential areas,” he added.
The ACT government has also released a new missing middle housing design guide, which will be used by industry to guide the types of housing that can be built under the new zoning specifications.
Moving forward, developers will be required to respond to the design guide when proceeding with the delivery of any proposed middle housing developments in RZ1 and RZ2 zones.
The Property Council of Australia welcomed the reforms to support middle-density housing in Canberra’s suburbs, stating it would be a strong first step to addressing the city’s housing needs.
The council’s ACT and capital region executive director, Ashlee Berry, said that the reforms were a “strong and significant step forward” to providing Canberra with more housing choices.
“More townhouses, duplexes, terraces, and low-rise apartments in our existing suburbs will give more Canberrans the housing choice they’ve been crying out for,” Berry said.
“This is generational planning change that will bring our suburbs into the 21st century and start to unlock delivery of the housing we need, close to services, shops, and public transport,” she concluded.
The announcement of zoning reforms in the ACT follows the implementation of a similar policy by the NSW government in February of this year, which removed restrictions on developing low- and mid-rise housing around hundreds of town centres and stations in NSW.
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