A Place to Stay, Not a Place to Grow: Lived Experiences of Permanent Supportive Housing Among Young Adults Formerly In Foster Care

Background and Purpose

Young adults exiting foster care face compounded barriers to stable housing, including limited social networks, economic instability, and the absence of structured support following discharge from state care. Permanent supportive housing (PSH), which combines non-time-limited housing with voluntary wraparound services, has demonstrated effectiveness for adults experiencing chronic homelessness but remains understudied for transition-age youth with foster care histories. Drawing on ontological security theory and liminality as complementary frameworks, this study examined how young adults formerly in foster care experienced and made meaning of PSH, and the extent to which it supported or constrained their autonomy, identity development, and future aspirations during emerging adulthood.

Methods

This longitudinal qualitative case study utilized interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) to examine the experiences of four young adults formerly in foster care, ages 23-27, residing in PSH programs in a metropolitan East Coast city. The sample included three Black participants and one White participant; three identified as nonbinary or pansexual. All participants had lived in a residential foster care setting prior to entering PSH and had resided in their current program for approximately three years at baseline. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted at baseline and six-month follow-up, focusing on housing experiences, autonomy, relationships with program staff, mental health, and future goals. Field observations at program sites supplemented interview data. Analysis followed IPA procedures, including idiographic analysis and cross-case examination to develop superordinate and subordinate themes.

Results

Findings coalesced around a superordinate theme of negotiating security and autonomy in PSH, reflected in three subordinate themes. Conflicted Gratitude captured how participants valued the stability and private space PSH provided after years of foster care placements; while describing visitor sign-in requirements, apartment inspections, and staff oversight as reproducing the institutional monitoring they had experienced in group home settings. Moving Forward While Staying Behind illustrated how participants wanted to pursue education, employment, and independence but described program rules and benefit structures that made advancing feel financially risky, leaving them feeling caught between stability and progress. No Building Can Hold Me captured a shift evident across the two interview waves: by follow-up, participants had moved from navigating program expectations toward refusing institutional definitions of adulthood, articulating concrete plans to leave PSH and pursue self-determined futures.

Conclusions and Implications

Findings highlight the mismatch between PSH as designed for adults experiencing chronic homelessness and the developmental needs of young adults exiting foster care. While PSH provided critical material stability, participants described surveillance practices and compliance expectations that reproduced child welfare system dynamics rather than supporting autonomy and identity development. Programs serving this population should incorporate structured pathways to independence, reduce benefit cliffs that disincentivize economic advancement, and center youth voice in program design.