The Permanent Supportive Housing of Central Virginia’s Aged Out Foster Youths: The Permanent Supportive Housing of Central Virginia’s Aged Out Foster Youths A Plan to Increase Regional Capacity, Fill Gaps in Service, and Identify Potential Sites.

As of 2024, Virginia’s Central Region continues to produce one of the highest rates of foster care emancipations in the state, despite having minimal infrastructure to support young adults transitioning out of care. Each year, dozens of foster youth in the region age out of the system without reunification, adoption, or other forms of permanency, disproportionately entering adulthood without the stability of housing, employment, or accessible services. Although permanent supportive housing (PSH) has emerged as a nationally validated model for housing and service integration, few PSH developments in Virginia are designed specifically for aged-out foster youth or their families. This study investigates how a mixed-use, trauma-informed PSH model can be implemented in Central Virginia to address this policy gap. Conducted on behalf of CORAL Housing, the plan combines demographic, spatial, and policy analysis to assess regional housing capacity, identify service gaps, and evaluate the siting potential for PSH in localities including Petersburg, Richmond, and Dinwiddie County. A weighted overlay GIS analysis was used to assess parcel-level suitability for PSH development, incorporating zoning, affordability, and proximity to transit and services. This plan outlines a strategic, place-based approach to permanent supportive housing development that responds directly to the lived realities of foster care-impacted youth. It provides a replicable planning framework for siting, funding, and programming PSH developments that align with both human needs and regulatory feasibility. By combining social work insights with planning methodologies, the plan proposes a path forward to address systemic housing instability among Virginia’s most vulnerable young adults.