Shared and Sustainable Future Communities
Researcher
Dr Laura Goh
Published
19 Aug 2025
Funding
Design Thinking Grant
Shared and Sustainable Future Communities explores how regulatory barriers in the ACT affect the growth of cohousing, and outlines reforms to enable more sustainable, affordable, and community-driven housing models.
As the ACT’s population grows and housing affordability and sustainability challenges intensify, cohousing presents an innovative alternative to conventional development. This research investigates how planning rules, construction codes, and ownership structures are shaping the future of cohousing, and offers clear policy reforms to unlock its potential.
Such reforms would provide a regulatory environment that better supports the diverse needs and design aspirations of cohousing communities looking for affordable and sustainable housing solutions.
Through case studies, stakeholder interviews, and detailed policy analysis, the study maps how planning reforms between 2017 and 2025 have shaped opportunities for cohousing, while also identifying areas where progress is still needed. By highlighting both the challenges and the possibilities, it demonstrates how cohousing can foster more affordable, environmentally sustainable, and socially connected communities.
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I would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people who are the traditional custodians of the land on which this research is conducted. I recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture and pay respect to Elders both past and present.
My sincere thanks to the people who participated in this research project.
This work was produced with the generous support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation through a Design Thinking Grant. I acknowledge the Foundation's vision and commitment to helping find innovative design solutions for shared and sustainable future communities. I am grateful for the opportunities the Alastair Swayn Foundation provides to those at the beginning of their research and practitioner careers.
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The Australian Capital Territory’s (ACT) population is projected to reach 784,000 by 2060, requiring significant new housing development to accommodate growth while addressing declining household sizes and affordability challenges. The ACT Government's Planning Strategy emphasises infill development to prevent urban sprawl, with a focus on providing diverse housing types and tenures at various price points throughout the Territory. This approach aims to create a compact, sustainable, and accessible city that meets the needs of a growing and changing population. Cohousing provides a unique opportunity to introduce a more shared and sustainable housing type to the ACT. Interest in cohousing has grown, with people attracted by its resident led design focus, sustainability and sharing goals. However, there are still a number of regulatory barriers that need to be reformed to allow this housing type to flourish.
Through case study identification, interviews with key cohousing stakeholders and detailed policy analysis, this research aims to identify and analyse the regulatory barriers that impede cohousing development in the Australian Capital Territory. This research has tracked the changes to the planning system in relation to cohousing between 2017 to 2025 and the results indicate that there are still a number of major reforms that are needed to allow innovative cohousing to thrive. In addition, regulatory barriers related to construction code and ownership structures exist. For cohousing communities who use company title as an alternative to unit titling, they may face additional regulatory barriers related to finance, utility sharing and land tax. The recommended policy reforms presented in this report will assist in removing the existing barriers to cohousing and provide scope to allow more innovation in cohousing.
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ACT
Australian Capital Territory
DHP
Demonstration Housing Project
EPSDD
Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate
Background
The population of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is expected to grow to 784,000 persons by June 2060 (ACT Government, 2022). More housing is needed to support this growing population. The ACT Government has indicated that while some housing may be provided in greenfield areas, the need to reduce urban sprawl and utilise existing infrastructure means that infill development in existing residential areas will be necessary. The ACT Government’s ACT Planning Strategy 2018 acknowledges that alongside population growth, average household size is declining. Housing affordability issues are also discussed, concluding that providing ‘a range of dwelling types and tenures at different price points in locations throughout the city’ (ACT Government, 2018b, p. 28) would be optimal. The strategy is themed around a future city that is compact, diverse, sustainable, liveable and accessible.
Cohousing provides a unique opportunity to introduce a more shared and sustainable housing type to the ACT. While each cohousing community is different, CoHousing Australia outlines the key features that are typical of this form of housing. Firstly, cohousing communities are planned and governed by residents (CoHousing Australia, n.d.). Secondly, cohousing communities balance independent living with community living thought the sharing of ‘facilities, activities and responsibilities’ (CoHousing Australia, n.d.). Cohousing communities tend to be small, with less than 50 households (Crabtree-Hayes, 2023). Each household has its own separate dwelling (which could be a house, townhouse, villa or similar), which tend to be grouped around common facilities. These facilities may include a shared indoor space, often called the shared or common house, that may include a kitchen and dining area, lounge and meeting area. The specific form and scale of each cohousing community is diverse and designed to meet the unique sharing and sustainability goals of each multi-residential community. Shared facilities can extend to open space, gardens, workshops and even shared vehicles, solar power and rainwater tanks. Cohousing communities are shown to provide enhance sustainable practices (Daly, 2017) and health benefits (Carrere et al., 2020).
Interest in cohousing has grown, with people attracted by its resident led design focus, sustainability and sharing goals. The number of cohousing communities in Australia has increased (Gore, 2022). In the Australian Capital Territory there are two historic cohousing communities, Urambi Village and Wybalena Grove. As part of the ACT Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate (EPSDD)’s Demonstration Housing Project, two more cohousing projects have progressed in Ainslie and Watson. A quote from the 2021 ACT Standing Committee on Planning, Transport and City Services Inquiry into Draft Variation 365: Housing Choices – CoHousing and Boarding House provides an insight into why residents might be looking for an alternative to current housing types:
“Life can be very isolating; it can be alienating. Our planning laws currently reinforce those sorts of trends in society. We are told that we must be selfreliant. We are told that we must have our own kitchen and our own full range of facilities so that we are not reliant on other people. That may suit some people, but it does not suit everybody”
Though historic cohousing communities do exist in the ACT, for a long time the planning system in the ACT did not include specific provisions for cohousing. The variations to the previous Territory Plan made under Demonstration Housing Project cohousing proposals highlighted areas of planning policy that needed amendment to support certain scales of cohousing. The process also revealed that it was not just the planning system that was constraining cohousing and that there were other areas of regulation that need to be amended to support cohousing.
Research Aim
This research aims to identify and analyse the regulatory barriers that impede cohousing development in the Australian Capital Territory. The study will examine barriers across all regulatory domains—including but not limited to planning and zoning regulations, construction codes and ownership title legislation. Based on the analysis of these areas of policy restriction, the research will develop targeted policy recommendations and practical solutions to address these restrictive barriers, allowing innovative cohousing designs to flourish in the ACT. Such reforms would provide a regulatory environment that better supports the diverse needs and design aspirations of cohousing communities looking for affordable and sustainable housing solutions.
The study will be of key interest and direct benefit to residents in the ACT who are looking to form cohousing communities, planners and policy makers, as well as the architectural and design community. This research has been undertaken over a period where significant changes have been made to the planning system in the ACT, including the introduction of the new Planning Act 2023 and Territory Plan 2023. The proposed Missing Middle Housing Reforms, released for public comment in May 2025, were also examined in this research.
Methodology
To identify the specific regulatory barriers related to cohousing in the ACT, case study identification, policy analysis and interviews with key cohousing stakeholders were undertaken.
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Initial analysis of key government documents was undertaken to understand the planning policies and frameworks related to cohousing development. This initial analysis helped to determine the main themes and questions for the interview stage.
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Grey literature and internet sources were used to identify potential case studies for the research.Four cohousing communities were identified in the ACT: Urambi Village; Wybalena Grove; Stellulata; and North Watson. Desktop analysis of these sites was undertaken to understand the history of community development, possible regulatory issues encountered and ownership structure.
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Ethics approval (2024/HE001260) was granted from the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of The University of Sydney on 1 October 2024. More recent cohousing communities were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews, which were conducted in 2025. The purpose of the interviews was to understand their firsthand experience of developing a cohousing community and identify regulatory barriers beyond the planning system. Interview themes were focused on the experience of forming a cohousing community; experience with the planning rules and process in the ACT; experience with other regulatory system requirements; and areas of reform needed to allow cohousing to thrive. The interviews were conducted via Zoom and transcribed for analysis.
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Transcripts of the interviews with key stakeholders in cohousing communities were analysed. During the interviews participants acknowledged that the planning system in the ACT had been through some significant changes recently. However, discussing their own experiences with the previous regulatory frameworks provided detailed information about all regulatory barriers, as well as providing clarification on the specific planning requirements that pertained to cohousing. The key regulatory areas identified as barriers to cohousing were planning, construction code and ownership structures. Within planning frameworks, the key aspects that were identified were: definition and identification of cohousing as a residential use, zoning, minimum block size, parking and private open space requirements.
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An extended planning policy analysis that included historic policy documents was then undertaken. This approach allowed changes in planning policy to be tracked in relation to cohousing and provide a summary of recent changes. In addition, construction code and ownership structure policies were analysed, following the identification of these areas as the additional regulatory barriers to cohousing.
Planning Policy Analysis
A broad policy analysis was taken to understand how historic and recent changes to the planning system have affected the formation of cohousing communities. This includes the introduction of the new Planning Act 2023 and Territory Plan 2023, as well as the Missing Middle Housing reforms proposed in May 2025. The policies examined as part of this research were:
Housing Choices (2017)
Demonstration Housing Project (2017)
Variation to the Territory Plan 365 Housing Choices – Co-housing and boarding houses (2022)
Variation to the Territory Plan 376 Demonstration Housing Co-Housing – Ainslie Section 25 Block 6 (2021)
Variation to the Territory Plan 372 - Watson Section 76 (2022)
Planning Act 2023
Territory Plan 2023
District Plans Design Guides Standing Committee Inquiry into the Territory Plan 2023
Missing Middle Housing Reforms May 2025
At the end of this section, a summary of planning barriers to cohousing are presented.
Housing Choices
The Australian Capital Territory Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate (EPSDD) established the Housing Choices project to examine if the housing needs of residents in the Australian Capital Territory were being met and how they could be improved (Australian Capital Territory Government, 2018a). In November 2017 the Housing Choices Discussion Paper was released. Feedback from the community on the discussion paper was collected via submissions, an online survey, workshops and drop-in kiosks (ACT Government, n.d.a). The results of the engagement were deliberated by the Collaboration Hub, which was a unique group of 38 randomly selected members of the Canberra Community (ACT Government, n.d.a), with the report outlining 13 recommendations presented to the Minister for Planning and Land Management in July 2018. The ACT Housing Choices Collaboration Hub Government Response from September 2018 provided in-principle agreement to all of the recommendations outline by the Collaborative Hub. The recommendations that specifically related to the progression of cohousing included:
Recommendation 2: Explore and implement alternative models for affordable home ownership including co-housing, rent-to-buy and financing options. The $1 million Affordable Housing Innovation Fund will include a category to trial cohousing models.
Recommendation 7: For both infill and new developments, government should require and/or incentivise developers to deliver an increase in 1) mix of dwelling sizes and diversity of dwelling types; 2) the set proportion (%) of new dwellings that met universal design standards; whilst taking into account different Precincts and changes over time.
Recommendation 11: We would like the government to adopt a sustainable outcome-based standards of design that demonstrates best practice deign quality and liveability standards.
The Housing Choices recommendations highlight that in the ACT the community is interested in a more diverse, affordable and sustainable range of housing options. Cohousing is mentioned specifically as an alternative model that should be explored
Demonstration Housing Project 2017
The Demonstration Housing Project (DHP) was established following a resolution passed in June 2017 in the ACT Legislative Assembly, with strong championing by individual Members of Parliament.
The project was launched during a period where there was a strong desire and interest in innovation in housing, with the Housing Choices program already underway.
The DHP focused on testing new housing designs in the main residential zone, RZ1, in the ACT.
The DHP had two streams, one for projects with a site and one for projects without a site.
A cohousing project was accepted into each stream, Stellulata for projects with a site and North Watson for projects without a site.
For each project a variation to the Territory Plan was required to allow the innovative design to proceed.
When the DHP commenced there was no reference to cohousing in the Territory Plan.
Variation to the Territory Plan 365 Housing Choices
Co-housing and boarding houses
Draft Variation 365 to the Territory Plan was released for public comment in early 2020. The draft variation introduced changes to the Territory Plan for both boarding houses and co-housing. On March 11 2021, the Standing Committee on Planning Transport and City Services agreed to inquire into DV365, releasing their report on 10 September 2021. Recordings of the Standing Committee Inquiry available online, as well as their final report, identified a number of key issues.
Definition
The definition of cohousing was examined and in the recording of the Inquiry there was discussion about why cohousing and boarding houses were included on the same Draft Variation and the implications of the definitions. The Standing Committee’s final report recommended that the two housing types be the subject of two separate variations.
Zoning
The limiting of cohousing to RZ2 – RZ5 zones was also discussed. RZ1 zones accounts for 79.9% of ACT residential blocks (ACT Government, n.d.b), so prohibiting cohousing from occurring in the RZ1 would severely limit the ability of smaller cohousing communities from forming.
Multi-Unit Development
Questions were raised during the inquiry as to whether the proposed variation would provide any changes from the existing multi-unit development to better support cohousing. Discussion in the Standing Committee’s final report indicates that there were some changes between the consultation draft and the recommended draft variation relating to dwelling limits. While the consultation draft indicated that the number of dwellings could be determined by plot ratio or site coverage, the recommended draft variation used Element 3 of the Multi Unit Development Code to limit the number of dwellings.
Demonstration Housing Project Outcomes
The Committee also suggested the variation related to cohousing be held so that the outcomes and findings of the Demonstration Housing Project could be incorporated.
Though no amendments were made in direct response to the four recommendations of the Standing Committee, the draft variation was amended to remove the possible limitations on co-housing that would occur if developments were required to comply with Element 3 of the Multi Unit Housing Development Code. The Variation was approved on 6 April 2022.
This variation was significant as it meant that a definition of co-housing was now included in the Territory Plan, co-housing was now listed as a type of development that could be assessed in the merit track for RZ2, RZ3, RZ4 and RZ5. Under this variation cohousing was also listed as a prohibited development in RZ1.
Variation 376 Demonstration Housing Co-Housing
Ainslie Section 25 Block 6
In November 2021 Variation 376 was approved. This Variation allowed the cohousing development (known as ‘Stellulata’) to progress on a block zoned Residential RZ1 Suburban with an area of 1090m². Stellulata is part of the Demonstration Housing Project and required variations to the Territory Plan in relation to three key aspects: co-housing in RZ1; parking; and allowance of unit titling. The Variation specifically allowed the three-dwellings to be built on the Residential RZ1 Suburban block. Generally, development in the RZ1 zone is limited to one to two dwellings. In addition, Stellulata planned to share two electric vehicles between the three households. The Variation allowed for a lower parking space requirement on the block. The Variation also allowed unit titling to occur on the block, as at the time this was not allowed on land zoned RZ1 (this was subsequently updated under the new Territory Plan) for some development types.
Variation to the Territory Plan 372
Watson Section 76
In February 2022 Variation 372 was approved. The Variation rezoned the site, which was largely vacant and unused, from Commercial CZ6 Leisure and Accommodation to RZ4 Medium Density Residential and Parks and Recreation PRZ1 Urban Open Space. The Watson precinct code was also amended to add definitions of cohousing and social enterprise. These changes facilitated the North Watson cohousing community to progress their cohousing development plans.
ACT Planning System Review and Reform Project
In March 2019 the ACT Government commenced the ACT Planning System Review and Reform Project. A new Planning Act 2023 was introduced, replacing the previous Planning and Development Act 2007. The major changes also included the release of new District Strategies, a new Territory Plan and new Design Guides.
District Strategies
The changes to the planning system in 2023 saw the introduction of nine new District Strategies. Each strategy was reviewed to establish if cohousing was referenced. The Inner North and City District Strategy 2023 refers to cohousing as an example of a ‘missing middle type house’ (ACT Government, 2023b, p. 20) that may be suitable for urban regeneration in the district. Other examples listed include townhouse, terraces, duplexes and dual occupancy. This same sentiment is expressed in the District Strategies for Belconnen, Gungahlin, Inner South, Molonglo Valley, Tuggeranong, Weston Creek and Woden. Cohousing is not mentioned in the East Canberra District Strategy as there are no areas that will be investigated for urban regeneration.
Territory Plan 2023
A new Territory Plan came into effect in 2024. Examination of the Territory Plan and relevant supporting documents show that cohousing is defined and permissible in zones RZ2, RZ3, RZ4 and RZ5 to the same extent that changes to the planning system under Variation 365.
Cohousing defined
A definition of cohousing (co-housing) is provided in the Territory Plan dictionary ‘co-housing means a development with separate dwellings or private living areas, with some common/shared indoor components such as kitchens, living areas, bedrooms, and laundries. Private living areas must each contain a bedroom and a bathroom as a minimum and may contain a kitchenette. The common/shared indoor components may be provided in a separate building’ (ACT Government, 2023a). This definition is the one introduced under Variation 365. Cohousing is also listed as under the definition of a residential use.
Cohousing in RZ2–RZ5 zones
Cohousing is included in the Land Use Table in the Residential Zones Policy that forms part of the Territory Plan for zones RZ2, RZ3, RZ4 and RZ5. Cohousing is not permitted in the RZ1 zone, which is the most common zone in the ACT.
Minimum Block Size
Under the Assessment Requirements of the Territory Plan, a minimum block size of 1,050m² is required for cohousing developments. For reference the Stellulata cohousing community was developed on a block that was 1090 m².
