A home, a community, a future — for autistic adults in Hawaii.
Fanfoot is building a small Hawaiian community where each adult resident has their own home — permanent, dignified, supported. For families who lie awake wondering what happens next, we are the answer to that question.
Become a Founding Family Learn MoreFanfoot Inc. is a Hawaii 501(c)(3) nonprofit creating permanent residential communities for autistic adults — designed around the simple, dignified principle that every person deserves a home of their own.
We don't operate a facility. We build a community of small private cottages — casitas — where each adult resident lives independently, supported by professional caregivers and surrounded by peers and the founder family living on site.
Our promise to the families who join us is plain: your son or daughter will have a home, a community, and the support they need, for the rest of their life. You can stop wondering what happens next.
Most adult-disability residential models force a choice between independence and support. The Fanfoot hybrid model delivers both.
Each resident lives in their own private casita — a real home, not a room. Privacy, autonomy, and dignity are not amenities. They are the foundation.
Casitas cluster around shared community spaces — gathering, meals, programming, therapy, work. Residents are neighbors and friends. The founder family lives among them.
Placement is permanent. Founding family contributions secure their adult child's home for life — preserving SSI, Medicaid waiver, and Section 8 eligibility. Families have peace of mind that follows them past their own lifetimes.
"What happens to my child when I'm gone?" That question is the heaviest weight a parent of an autistic adult carries. Fanfoot exists to answer it.
Our founding family commitment guarantees lifetime placement. Our hybrid casita model preserves autonomy and dignity. Our Hawaii location offers a beautiful, peaceful environment — and our supportive community structure preserves the federal benefits your child has earned: SSI, Medicaid I/DD waiver, and Section 8 housing assistance. You retain control. Your child retains independence. The community provides what neither family nor government can: continuity.
We are forming our founding circle now — the small number of families whose commitment makes the Fanfoot community possible, and whose adult children become its founding residents.
A Founding Family commitment is a $300,000 contribution to Fanfoot Inc., structured between charitable gift and refundable founding-resident deposit, in exchange for the permanent placement of one founding resident.
What a Founding Family receives:
The questions parents bring most often, answered plainly.
Fanfoot Inc. is a Hawaii 501(c)(3) nonprofit creating permanent residential communities for autistic adults. We are designing a small community on the Big Island where each adult resident lives in their own private cottage — a casita — supported by professional caregivers and surrounded by peers and the founder family living on-site.
On the island of Hawaii (the Big Island). We are currently in the process of identifying and securing a specific property in a rural community that fits our model. Founding families are involved in confirming the final site before commitments are finalized.
A casita is a small private home or cottage. Each resident has their own dwelling — not a room in a building. We chose this model because autonomy, privacy, and dignity are foundational to a good adult life, not amenities to be added later. Our residents are adults. They live like adults.
The model is inspired by established residential communities including Camphill Villages, L'Arche, Bittersweet Farms, and Sweetwater Spectrum — communities that have demonstrated, for decades, that adults with intellectual and developmental differences thrive in settings that combine independent homes with shared community life.
A Founding Family commitment is structured as a combination of charitable contribution and a refundable founding-resident deposit. The exact split is set in a written Admission Agreement, finalized in consultation with your own attorney and special needs planning counsel.
The charitable contribution portion is tax-deductible under federal rules and funds Fanfoot's acquisition of the community property. The refundable deposit portion is held in escrow under terms that protect your family if the community does not proceed, or under defined conditions if your child later departs.
This is the same structure used by continuing-care retirement communities and other established lifetime-placement nonprofits.
Yes — the casita model is designed to preserve SSI eligibility. Because each resident occupies their own private dwelling and pays rent (often covered by Section 8), each casita qualifies as the resident's "own household" under Social Security Administration rules. Your child's monthly SSI benefit is not reduced by the "in-kind support and maintenance" rules that affect institutional settings.
Yes. Hawaii's Medicaid I/DD waiver covers residential habilitation and related services for adults with developmental disabilities. Fanfoot is pursuing Medicaid waiver provider enrollment so that the services delivered to your child within the community are reimbursable, with no disruption to your child's existing waiver eligibility.
We assist residents in applying for and using federal Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8), which cover most or all of the rent on their casita. Residents who already hold vouchers from another local housing authority can typically port them to the Hawaii County Housing Agency for use at Fanfoot. Hawaii has a multi-year voucher waitlist, so we encourage families to apply as soon as possible.
The community is led by a live-in director couple — the founder family — who reside on-site and direct daily life and culture. They are supported by professional direct-support staff who provide habilitation services, behavioral support, and life-skills assistance.
The model is intentionally small-scale and family-like. Caregivers know residents personally and live alongside them. This is the opposite of an institutional model with rotating shift staff.
Group homes typically house multiple residents in shared bedrooms or shared apartments within a single building, staffed by rotating personnel. Placement can be terminated if state funding changes or if a resident's behavioral or care needs shift.
At Fanfoot, each resident has their own private cottage. The founder family lives on site. Founding family commitments secure permanent placement — not a contractual entitlement, but a community covenant that residents have a home for life.
This is the question that brings most parents to us. Founding family commitments secure lifetime placement. The community continues regardless of any individual family's circumstances. Your child has a home, neighbors who know them, and care that does not depend on your survival.
This is the core promise of Fanfoot, and the reason we exist.
We are in active property acquisition and licensure planning. Target opening for founding residents: 2027 to 2028, depending on property acquisition timeline and Hawaii Department of Health licensure. Founding families are kept informed at every step and are involved in major decisions through their cultivation period.
Contact Jeanne Richardson, Executive Director, using the form below or by phone. We schedule a one-on-one conversation to understand your family's specific situation, answer your questions in depth, and discuss whether Fanfoot is the right fit for your adult child.
There is no obligation, and no commitment is sought during the initial conversation. We expect families to take significant time to consider a decision of this magnitude.
If you are the parent or guardian of an autistic adult and want to learn whether Fanfoot is the right home for your child — we would like to talk with you.
Executive Director