New planning guideline supporting churches to provide temporary accommodation

A new planning guideline has been published to help places of worship provide temporary accommodation for homeless people.

The practice guideline has been developed to support requests from a community group wanting to operate a ‘winter shelter’ program, where churches provide a night of accommodation and meals on rotation for people without access to housing.

This is the second practice guideline published by the State Planning Commission and clarifies that the definition of ‘places of worship’ in the Planning and Design Code includes their use as accommodation for homeless people for up to two nights a week and up to 13 weeks per year.

A supporting Ministerial building standard has also been approved to clarify the requirements that must be met through the building rules for a place of worship to be used as temporary accommodation.

The building standard outlines the minimum access and fire safety requirements for a place of worship that is used as temporary accommodation.

For further information about practice guidelines or Ministerial building standard, visit the PlanSA portal or contact PlanSA on 1800 752 664 or email PlanSA@sa.gov.au.