As we moved from concept to daily operation, our vision for PERIS Hill encountered the realities of implementation. What had felt coherent and aligned on paper now had to function within a complex web of funding requirements, neighborhood dynamics, service delivery systems, property management norms, and human relationships. As soon as we opened doors, we unearthed a truth:  innovation is rarely linear. It requires continuous learning, adaptation, and humility. Now, five years into operation, we’re sharing our experience, not because we've found every answer, or would ever claim perfection, but because we believe the foster care, homelessness, and broader supportive housing fields can only grow stronger when we are all willing to share and discuss both our successes and our challenges.

Young people aging out of foster care face some of the highest risks of housing instability and homelessness in the United States. Across studies, between one-third and nearly half of youth who age out of foster care will experience homelessness by their mid-twenties, a rate many times higher than their peers. This instability is not episodic—it is patterned and persistent. Youth with out-of-home placement histories experience homelessness earlier, more frequently, and for longer durations than their peers. They also show disproportionate rates of involvement with the criminal legal system, early parenting, mental health challenges, and underemployment. Not as a result of individual failure, but clearly as a reflection of conditions (both systematic and situational) that make sustained stability extraordinarily difficult during their transition to adulthood.