Design is a health intervention

Imagine the Jones family.

Their son has nonverbal autism and elopes. Over the years, they've replaced the front door lock four times—he's learned to unlock every standard deadbolt. The drywall around the doorframes has been patched so many times they've stopped trying to match the paint. When he's dysregulated, he headbangs against walls, so they've installed padding in his bedroom. But the landlord won't let them reinforce the windows or install the commercial-grade locks they actually need.

They've looked at buying, but every house they can afford would require thousands in modifications just to make it safe.

Now imagine this: The Jones family lives in a custom-built cottage on a small homestead in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The doorframes are reinforced. The sensory room has impact-resistant walls. Outside their door, interlocking hedge mazes create safe wandering paths that lead to gardens at the center—lavender, tomatoes, whatever they chose to grow.

Three mornings a week, a local potter from John C Campbell Folk School comes to teach pottery in their workshop. The family sells their ceramic mugs at the Asheville farmers market. The proceeds help cover household repairs—wheelchair ramps, specialized furniture, things that break and need fixing when you're raising someone with high support needs.

On Tuesdays, their son's speech therapist meets them at the community lodge, a five-minute walk from their front door. No long drives to the nearest clinic. No waiting rooms. Just therapy in their own neighborhood.

The Jones family isn't receiving charity. They're building a life.

This is what Hiraeth Trust exists to create.

The Crisis We're Addressing

Across Appalachia and beyond, families raising autistic loved ones face an intersecting housing crisis:

  • Modification barriers: Standard homes can't accommodate sensory needs, elopement risks, or mobility equipment without expensive retrofits that landlords won't allow and mortgages won't cover.
  • Service deserts: Rural families drive hours for therapy, burning time and gas they don't have.
  • Forced institutionalization: When caregivers age out or burn out, the only "option" is often state-funded group homes—if beds are even available.
  • Economic exclusion: Families become permanent service consumers, with no path to contribute economically or build equity.

We believe families shouldn't have to choose between staying together and getting the support they need.

Hiraeth Trust is building a different path—one where housing permanence, therapeutic access, meaningful work, and community safety exist in one place.

Our Model | How It Works

Hiraeth Trust operates as a Community Land Trust for families with autistic members. Here's what that means:

1. Custom Homes, Permanent Affordability

Community Land Trust Structure
Residents own their homes but the land stays in trust, ensuring permanent affordability. No landlord can evict you. No property tax spike can force you out. You have a stable place to age in, to raise your family, to stay.

Disability-Specific Customization
Before construction begins, families list their needs: reinforced walls for self-injurious behaviors, sound-dampening for sensory sensitivities, visual alarms for Deaf family members, roll-in showers, whatever your household requires. We build for your disability, not around it.

Ongoing Modification Support
Disabled people have higher repair needs—door locks replaced monthly, specialized furniture that breaks, wheelchair ramp maintenance. All funds raised by the trust help residents cover these costs. Housing permanence means repair permanence too.

2. On-Site Therapy

Community Lodge
At the center of the neighborhood sits a shared therapy building. Occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, ABA practitioners, music therapists, art therapists, and equestrian therapists render services in your neighborhood.

For Families
No more juggling waitlists across three counties. Therapy becomes a neighborhood amenity, not a logistics nightmare.

For Practitioners
Recent graduates and established therapists gain access to a consistent client base in a purpose-built, sensory-friendly environment. It's a practice model that works for providers and families.

3. Safe Wandering: Security Through Design

Interlocking Hedge Mazes
The entire neighborhood is surrounded by permaculture-designed hedge mazes with gardens at the center. Paths are safe for wandering. External gates provide security for families with elopers.

Private and Public Spaces
Most of the year, gardens remain private for residents. Quarterly, we open them for community festivals and craft sales—creating moments of connection without sacrificing safety the rest of the time.

Passive Containment
Instead of locked facilities or institutional supervision, we use landscape architecture to create freedom within safety. Residents can walk, explore, and move without restraint.

4. Household Enterprise: From Consumers to Producers

Resident Choice
Residents contribute through what they make or grow. One family wants to raise chickens and sell eggs. Another weaves baskets. Another grows heirloom tomatoes. You choose based on your interests, capacity, and skills.

Folk Arts Education | Prospective Partnerships

We will connect residents—free of charge—with master craftspeople and educators from:

  • John C Campbell Folk School
  • Penland School of Craft
  • NC Folklife Institute
  • Local agricultural extension programs
  • Appalachian artisan networks

Whether you want to learn blacksmithing, natural dyeing, timber framing, permaculture gardening, or traditional pottery, we match you with teachers rooted in mountain craft traditions.

Any resident-run micro enterprises (e.g. pottery sales) are self-sufficiency tools separate from the CLT.

Agricultural & Food Production | Prospective Partnerships

We will connect residents—free of charge—with agricultural educators and experienced growers from:

  • NC Cooperative Extension (Burke, McDowell, Yancey County offices)
  • Organic Growers School (Asheville)
  • Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP)
  • WNC Agricultural Center
  • Master Gardener programs
  • Local farms offering educational workshops
  • Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition
  • Soil and Water Conservation Districts

Whether you want to learn vegetable gardening, beekeeping, food preservation, season extension, permaculture design, small-scale livestock care, or herb cultivation, we match you with educators and farmers who understand mountain growing conditions and sustainable practices.

Any resident-run micro enterprises (e.g. farmer's market sales) are self-sufficiency tools separate from the CLT.

Why Appalachia? Why Now?

Geographic Context
The Blue Ridge Mountains face acute rural healthcare shortages, limited affordable housing stock, and multi-generational caregiving traditions under economic strain. Families here are resourceful, land-rooted, and underserved.

Cultural Alignment
Appalachian craft traditions already emphasize self-sufficiency, household production, and intergenerational knowledge transfer. Our model builds on these existing strengths rather than importing external solutions.

Replicability
We're designing this pilot to be replicated—in other disabilities, other regions, other communities. But we start here, grounded in place, with families who need it now.

What we're building first

Year 1 Goal: Establish legal, physical, and operational infrastructure for a 4–6 household pilot in Western North Carolina.

Strategic Priorities:

  1. Legal framework: Secure zoning variances, execute CLT agreements, establish audit-ready accounting
  2. Capital development: Acquire Zone 7b land, install utilities, rehabilitate ADA-compliant units
  3. Operational launch: Enroll founding households, launch therapeutic agriculture, formalize therapy provider agreements
  4. Impact metrics: Build replication toolkit with cost analysis and operational templates for national scaling

Target Population: Households at <200% Federal Poverty Level raising autistic family members, prioritizing those facing imminent housing loss or caregiver burnout.

Review our Year 1 funding priorities here.

Get Involved

For Families
If you're raising an autistic loved one and struggling to find housing that works, we want to hear from you. 

For Partners
Are you a craft educator, therapist, farmer, builder, or funder interested in this model? Let's talk about collaboration. 

For Funders
We're seeking partners who understand that housing permanence is healthcare, economic development, and crisis prevention all at once. 

Hiraeth: A longing for home

 

The Welsh word hiraeth describes a deep, untranslatable homesickness—not just for a place, but for a sense of belonging that feels perpetually out of reach.

We're building the home you've been longing for.

Hiraeth Trust is a pending 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For inquiries, contact us