Western Australia’s housing shortfall has proven difficult to solve, but every so often, a new idea gains momentum as the answer.
Right now, the popular answer appears to be addressing the ‘missing middle’ – a phrase that has become a favourite among planners and councils.
Townhouses, duplexes and low-rise apartments are considered the missing gentle density needed as a natural solution to housing shortfalls, offering more homes without significantly altering the character of established suburbs.
It is a comforting idea, and one that comes with genuine merit, but on its own it is unlikely to deliver housing at the pace or scale which WA actually needs.
The challenge is one of delivery, because missing middle typologies often rely on individual landowners choosing – independently and often years apart – to redevelop their own blocks.
This kind of density accumulates slowly, lot by lot, and often only after significant financial and personal commitment from each individual owner.
Apartment towers, by comparison, are delivered through a single approval and a single build program, adding a significant number of dwellings in one location within a defined and predictable timeframe.
Recent reforms in the Australian Capital Territory provide a current illustration of just how much support is required to accelerate missing middle housing and how long even a well-resourced program takes to deliver results.
To encourage uptake across Canberra, a key development charge has been halved, and a set of pre-approved home designs has been created to reduce design costs and simplify the approval process.
The ACT Government’s own planning guidance, however, shows the medium-density housing is intended to be delivered gradually, with financial incentives remaining in place until December 2030 to give developments time to be built.
If a well-funded purpose-built reform package still needs four years of financial incentives just to get this housing type moving, that says something about how slowly missing middle housing scales.
None of this suggests missing middle housing lacks value. It has a legitimate role to play, particularly in established character areas where the land for higher-density towers is harder to come by.
The concern is if it is treated as the primary lever for solving a housing crisis, rather than one part of a broader strategy which also prioritises height and density in well-located areas close to existing infrastructure.
Missing middle housing can play a supporting role in that strategy but it cannot be expected to carry the full weight of the crisis alone.
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