The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast
A show that explores how land, capital, and community come together in practice.
Hosted by Neal Collins, the show features conversations with landowners, developers, investors, and practitioners navigating the real-world challenges of regenerative development, including financing, governance, land stewardship, and long-term value creation.
Rather than focusing on theory or trends, the podcast examines the tradeoffs, constraints, and decisions that determine whether regenerative projects actually endure.
The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast
Purpose-Driven Sustainable Housing and Education with Emily Niehaus
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Emily Niehaus is a former mayor and a leader in both affordable housing and education. She is the founder of Community Rebuilds, a nonprofit that constructs affordable straw bale homes, and more recently, she’s also the founder of Heron School, a micro-school for gifted neurodiverse students. In between those ventures, she found the time to be the mayor of Moab, Utah, where she was able to advocate for housing policy with a larger platform. Throughout her impressive, varied career, she has been driven by purpose and a “doer” attitude, she says “if I see something that needs fixing, I just try to fix it."
Emily and show host Neal explore Emily's journey from Ohio to her “forever home” in Utah, where she started off as a park ranger at Bryce Canyon before settling down in Moab. She followed her passions, working at a community theater and as a social worker, before she became a loan officer as a pathway to getting into creating affordable housing. They talk about her innovative nonprofit, Community Rebuilds, which she founded as a way to replace outdated trailer homes with sustainable straw bale homes for families in need. They also dive into her term as the mayor of Moab, where she promoted affordable housing and learned valuable lessons about political will and community engagement. Finally, they discuss her most recent venture, Heron School, which was inspired by Emily’s son, a gifted learner on the autism spectrum. The school operates on a profit-for-purpose model, with the support of the neighboring Sunflower Hill Inn, which Emily also owns. For more information about Emily and her work, visit heronschool.com and communityrebuilds.org.
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The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast is an independent show exploring the people, projects, and capital reshaping how land gets used and communities get built. Two organizations grew directly out of this work, and they're worth knowing:
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