What 20 Successful Housing Projects Reveal About Hidden Market Opportunities

By Denise D. Resnik, Founder & President/CEO, First Place AZ and Desiree Kameka Galloway, Director, Autism Housing Network & Lead Consultant, Neuro-Inclusive Housing Solutions

For developers already building affordable, market-rate or supportive housing, this overlooked population may prompt your promising next move. 

If you’ve ever layered tax credits to build affordable housing, partnered with a nonprofit service provider or designed apartments with embedded supports for seniors, you’re closer than you think to a win-win market opportunity.  You know how to navigate zoning challenges. You understand public, private and philanthropic capital stacks. You’ve built for long-term tenancy, valued community amenities and stable occupancy. What’s missing isn’t capacity—it’s clarity about opportunities for expanding into adjacent markets.  

Until now. 

The third edition (2025) of the groundbreaking 2020 report, A Place in the World: Fueling Housing and Community Options for Adults with Autism and Other Neurodiversities®, is built to change that.

Unserved Demand, Untapped Market Potential

Over 8 million people across the US have an intellectual/Developmental disability (I/DD). Each year, more than 120,000 autistic young adults leave the school system. Most of these adults have been raised with higher expectations, stronger support systems and more real-world experience than any generation before them. Many have routines, long-standing community ties and want a job. But when they and their families look for options that match their readiness, they find waitlists, inaccessible housing, outdated group home models and a disjointed, complex system of community-based services.       

While families wait, developers are overlooking a sustainable, underbuilt market segment of unserved demand with the potential for growth—and the chance to better understand its needs and preferences. 

What Developers Typically Miss or Don’t Understand: Shared Language and Proof of Concept

One of the most significant barriers to entering this space isn’t cost but communication.

Most housing developers are not fluent in the terminology or systems of disability supports and services. Likewise, most disability service providers are not fluent in development timelines or financing models. This disconnect creates unnecessary risk, inefficiency, confusion—and lost opportunity. 

The new edition of A Place in the World (APITW) fills that gap. The updated report includes nomenclature to help aligned organizations—developers, public agencies, nonprofits, foundations—speak the same language. It segments housing demand by development type, support needs, funding structure and target market. 

APITW doesn’t dictate what to build. It provides a map of the housing landscape for this population. 

Sampler Platter: 20+ Projects, 20+ Paths to New Opportunities

This isn’t a theoretical market. The 2025 update of A Place in the World features 20 properties designed to serve autistic adults and others with I/DD​. This list touches on notable attributes:

• They span geographies, funding sources​ ​and development models.

• Some are led by nonprofit community development corporations.

• Others are mixed-use projects led by private developers in partnership with local service providers.

• Some use vouchers, low-income housing tax credits​ ​or foundation capital.

• Others blend private pay with tenant-based supports.

• Models include small, clustered apartments,​ neighborhoods of ​detached​ single-level units with various amenities,​ intentional communities,​ ​and fully integrated properties with on-site staffing and/or service coordination.

Whatever your development model or experience, APITW offers multiple cases resembling something you could have built—or might want to build next. 

Why Now? And Why You?

Current supply doesn’t match burgeoning demand. APITW housing market analyses (HMA) survey data show strong preference for walkable, mixed-use, neuro-inclusive communities. But most inventory still reflects outdated institutional design and inaccurate assumptions about levels of dependence. That’s a gap—and an opportunity. 

Families are joining forces. Some are pooling land, seed capital​ ​and/or operating partnerships. Public and philanthropic funders are looking for inclusive, community-integrated projects with proximity to healthcare facilities. And stable, long-term tenancy with wraparound supports makes this market segment more viable. 

If you’re already building housing that pairs bricks and mortar with services, you’re not starting from scratch. You’re standing at the edge of a well-defined need with a toolkit already in hand. 

Explore What’s Already Working

A Place in the World won’t tell you what to build. But it will help you plan smarter, partner better and move faster—whether you’re working at the neighborhood scale or developing a multiphase project. 

Start with property “Snapshots” under APITW’s Housing Market Guide to learn from other developers. Check out findings from the collection of APITW HMAs and consider one for your community. Watch the APITW video series. Then find your own entree into a market that’s been waiting for your attention!  

Neuro-Inclusive Housing Solutions and it's neurodivergent bench of professionals is here to help-

reach out to explore if your next development should be neuro-inclusive: Desiree@NeuroInclusiveHousingSolutions.com