What is a group home in NSW?

A group home is a term from the planning system. It describes how a dwelling is used, and that use decides which approval pathway is open and which building rules apply.

The planning definition

NSW planning describes a group home as a dwelling where the residents live as a single household, with or without paid supervision or care. The residents may or may not be related, and they may or may not pay for board.

There are two kinds. A permanent group home provides long-term household accommodation for people with disability or people who are socially disadvantaged. A transitional group home provides temporary accommodation for the same groups.

The planning pathway

The State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 is where the group home rules sit. It makes group homes permissible in a range of zones and sets the standards a proposal has to meet.

A group home that satisfies every relevant standard can be approved as complying development, through a complying development certificate issued by a certifier. A proposal that does not meet every standard goes through a development application instead. The differences between the two are set out in [planning pathways for special-use accommodation in NSW](/blog/planning-pathways-for-special-use-accommodation-nsw).

Complying development is all or nothing. The design has to sit inside the standards from the first sketch, because a single departure moves the project back to a development application.

The building class

The planning use and the building class are separate questions. Under the National Construction Code, a group home is commonly Class 1b or Class 3, depending on its size and the number of residents, and a single project can include both.

The class decides fire safety, egress and other provisions, so it is settled early. The reasons are covered in [NCC building classes for special-use accommodation](/blog/ncc-classes-special-use-accommodation).

Group homes and SDA

A dwelling enrolled as Specialist Disability Accommodation may also be a group home in planning terms. The two systems run side by side. Planning approves the use and the building, while SDA enrolment is a separate NDIS process that rests on certification against the SDA Design Standard.

That process is explained in [how is an SDA dwelling enrolled](/blog/how-is-an-sda-dwelling-enrolled). Planning the two together saves a redesign later.

What it means for design

A group home has to feel like a home shared by one household. That means private bedrooms, a shared kitchen and living space the residents actually use, and an outdoor area that connects to the living space at the same level.

It also has to work for the support provided there. Staff need somewhere to work and, where there is overnight support, somewhere to rest. Egress has to account for residents who may need help to leave the building in an emergency.

Residents often live in a group home for many years, so the home has to adapt as their needs change. Structural provision for a ceiling hoist, a bathroom with space for assisted use and controls within a seated reach are far simpler to include at design than to add later.

Why it suits Hybrid Volumetric Modular

Complying development rewards a design that is settled early and held. So does a factory build, because modules are fabricated from final documentation and changes after that point are costly.

That shared need for early decisions is why a group home is a strong fit for our method. The design is fixed to the standards at the start, the modules are built while the site is prepared, and the project moves through approval and construction without the design being reopened.

MADEmodular / MADEbetter.

Our standards. Discuss a project.