Morris Home, the nation’s only drug and alcohol recovery home designed specifically for transgender and non-conforming people, has moved to a new location in Fishtown.
The new drug and alcohol recovery home officially opened on April 11 and residents will be able to start moving in as early as May. The center was due to open last year, but the pandemic and supply chain issues delayed repairs to the building.
The new location is at 23 S. 44th Street.
The program was originally started in 2011 by the non-profit organization Resources for Human Development (RHD). The new location has room for 14 residents, while the old space only had room for nine.
Morris Home collaborated with Anthropologie, which provided them with furniture and helped design the rooms. In addition to the furnishings, Anthropologie donated $10,000 to Morris Home last June for Pride Week. One of the rooms in the new house is a Sensory Motor Regulation Therapy (SMART) room. According to the RHD website, the room has “different lighting options and sound, olfactory, motor and tactile stimulation tools to use during therapy sessions.”
The exterior of the home is decorated with a mural by Kah Yangni and the residents of the Morris Home. This is the first mural in Philadelphia to feature transgender and gender non-conforming people. The mural is called “We are universal”. Phrases from Yangni’s conversations with residents are part of the mural. Among them, “We are happy”, “We feel rage” and “We are trans, we are survivors”.
The recovery home is named after Nizah Morris, a transgender woman who died after receiving a courtesy ride from a police officer. She was found by a passing motorist with a head injury and later died at the hospital.
Controversy arose in his case when police insisted it was an accidental death, even after the medical examiner and a neurology specialist determined it was a homicide. Some details of his death remain a mystery.
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