UniSA project to help turn inner suburban homes into multiple dwellings for older people downsizing
Share houses are common enough for young people, and now an Adelaide project will encourage retirees to embrace the idea too — with an architectural twist.
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Infill development, but without demolition, could be the key to helping older people in Adelaide’s inner suburbs downsize in their own neighbourhood.
UniSA architecture lecturer Damian Madigan says there are limited options for people who don’t want to move into an apartment or retirement village.
But instead of bulldozing homes on large blocks to make way for more “two-for-one” infill developments, he proposes adapting them into a form of shared living.
In a $74,000 project, he will work with Unley, Burnside, Prospect and Walkerville councils on design solutions, including internal alterations to turn single homes into two, and adding new homes between existing ones that would share walls either side.
So, two neighbouring homes could potentially be transformed into four or five, with each dwelling separate and private internally, while gardens and the remaining driveway would be shared.
As well as benefiting older people who don’t want to, or can’t, look after large homes and gardens anymore, the model could allow generations of the same family to live side-by-side in separate dwellings, but with doors in shared walls for when they want to come together.
Dr Madigan said it would avoid subdivisions into minimum allotment sizes.
“Through retrofits, alterations and additions, this project will explore a variety of housing options that could suit the needs of older residents who would like to retain their independence but share some aspects of their living arrangements with like-minded others,” Dr Madigan said.
“You give up (outdoor) privacy, but you retain amenity.”
The idea could also help younger homeowners pay their mortgages by renting a dwelling on their property to their downsizing parents.
While stressing the concept wouldn’t suit everyone, Dr Madigan said alternative forms of infill would become increasingly important in SA, where by 2036 one in every three households will have just one occupant, many of them aged over 65.
As well as keeping older people socially connected, advantages could include long-term leases for older renters and more flexibility to have pets than in apartments or retirement villages.
The project, funded by SA Health, the Planning Department and the four councils, will involve workshops with older residents to seek their feedback on design and planning ideas.
“Our challenge is to create housing options that sit somewhere between the single-family home at one end of the housing spectrum and apartments and units at the other,” Dr Madigan said.
“SA is an ideal place to establish these new modes of ‘missing middle’ housing.”
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