Hingham Discusses Regional Funding for SailHome Housing Model

Hingham's Select Board heard a pitch Sept. 8 from SailHome, a Scituate nonprofit that built supported apartment housing for adults with autism using $1.75 million in community preservation funds. Board member Bill Ramsey, responding to the presentation, raised the idea of pooling similar funding from multiple towns to bring a version of the project to Hingham.

Marynell Henry, executive director and founder of SailHome, and Jody Nash, the organization's board president, told the board how the nonprofit built its model. SailHome, which stands for Supported Access to Independent Living, operates a flagship property at 809 Country Way in Scituate that opened to its first residents in March.

Henry told the board that housing for adults with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities is in crisis. She said only 15% of that population receives housing through the state's group home model, leaving 450 people on a waiting list and many more adults living at home with aging parents.

"The population is exploding. One in 36 are now diagnosed with autism," Henry said.

SailHome was founded in October 2023 by parents with lived experience who later trained with a Chicago nonprofit on how to develop supported housing. The organization purchased and retrofitted an 8,000 square foot former manufacturing building in Scituate, creating three apartments, staff quarters, a community space and leased office space. Renovation was completed in October 2025.

"We were able to go to the town of Scituate, and under CPC, we were able to access $1.75 million to renovate the building, and we couldn't have done it without that," Henry said.

The full renovation cost $2.4 million, with SailHome raising an additional $700,000 through grants, fundraising and donations, plus financing from a private investor who purchased the property. Henry said the Scituate CPC funding was approved across two town meetings.

Select Board member Bill Ramsey, who served as the board's liaison and attended the Scituate opening, praised the project and said he has met several times with local supporters about bringing a similar project to Hingham. Ramsey asked whether SailHome had explored pooling CPC funding from multiple towns.

Henry said she had not pursued that directly, but noted a similar project on Cape Cod that draws CPC funding from several communities. SailHome already requires residents' families to live within 15 miles of the property, a radius that includes Hingham; the Scituate property currently houses several Hingham residents and one from Rockland.

Ramsey argued the region-wide nature of SailHome's resident pool makes the case for a joint funding approach among towns.

"The residents are from the region. They're not from specific towns, so that's what an argument to go to other towns about a joint CPC funding proposal was, hey, people from Cohasset can live here, Hingham, all over the place," Ramsey said.

Select Board Vice Chair Julie Strehle asked about SailHome's growth plans and whether the model could expand beyond eight residents per property. Henry said eight works well for staffing and said SailHome has discussed pairing future developments with senior housing, since the support needs often overlap.

"It's a wonderful way to use community preservation funds," Strehle said. A Hingham resident who spoke during public comment praised SailHome for repurposing an existing building rather than developing open space, calling the project a "win-win" instead of the usual tension between conservation and housing.

Board members thanked Henry and Nash for the presentation and said they looked forward to continuing the conversation about regional funding for a similar project in Hingham.