Morris Home is the only residential recovery program in the United States that offers comprehensive services specifically for transgender and gender-expansive people. Located in Southwest Philadelphia and operated by the national nonprofit Resources for Human Development (RHD), Morris Home provides short- and long-term drug and alcohol treatment in a gender-affirming environment where residents are treated with dignity and supported as their authentic selves. The program is named for Nizah Morris, a Philadelphia transgender woman whose 2002 murder remains unsolved. Since opening in 2012, Morris Home has been recognized nationally as a model for what trans-competent addiction care can look like.
Morris Home provides residential substance-use treatment and recovery services to transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive adults who are experiencing or at risk of addiction. Many residents arrive directly from homelessness, incarceration, or shelter programs — often after being turned away from traditional recovery facilities that could not provide culturally competent care. National data makes the need clear: 19% of transgender people have experienced homelessness, and trans folks are four times more likely to live in poverty than the general population. Traditional recovery programs frequently fail trans clients, either by denying them shelter outright or placing them in gendered spaces that do not match their identity. Morris Home exists specifically to close that gap.
Morris Home is built on a holistic, gender-affirming model of care that treats addiction alongside the full range of needs trans folks bring into recovery. About half the staff are themselves transgender or gender-variant — a deliberate design choice from the program’s founding. Services include daily therapeutic group sessions on topics like trans identity, healthy relationships, and sober social space; weekly individual therapy; assistance with legal name changes; medical coordination with trans-affirming providers; and access to hormone prescriptions while in treatment. The program also operates a donations-based clothing closet and provides hair and makeup for residents who wish to shift their gender presentation during recovery — often a significant factor in long-term wellbeing that conventional programs simply do not address.
Morris Home accepts referrals from individuals, families, hospitals, correctional facilities, and other social-service agencies. Most residents’ stays are covered by medical assistance (Medicaid), with additional funding through the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services (DBHIDS) Journey of Hope program, which supports people experiencing prolonged homelessness alongside behavioral health challenges. The program is also part of HUD’s crisis-shelter listing. To make a referral or inquire about admission, call Morris Home directly at (215) 729-3045, or visit the Resources for Human Development website for intake information. Families and individuals in urgent need are encouraged to call regardless of whether they are certain about eligibility — staff can help identify the right next step even when Morris Home isn’t the right fit.
Morris Home is named in memory of Nizah Morris, a Black transgender woman who died in Philadelphia in December 2002 after being given what police called a “courtesy ride” home. She was found with a fatal head injury on Walnut Street in Center City. Her death — and the unanswered questions about police conduct that followed — remains one of the most significant unsolved cases in Philadelphia LGBT+ history, and a continuing touchstone for local trans advocacy. The program was conceived by Sadé Ali, former deputy of Philadelphia’s DBHIDS, who spent time talking with transgender sex workers in her neighborhood and recognized there was no facility anywhere in the country designed specifically for their recovery needs. Morris Home opened in 2012, and has remained the only program of its kind in the United States.
Morris Home depends on community support to maintain the services that insurance and government funding don’t cover. Gently-used clothing in all sizes (especially size 10 and up), professional interview clothing, hygiene products and toiletries, stamps, and trans-friendly job opportunities are consistently needed. Financial donations can be made directly through Resources for Human Development, which provides tax-deductible giving for Morris Home specifically. Philadelphia is home to one of the strongest networks of trans-affirming resources in the country — including the Mazzoni Center, the TransHealth Information Project, The Attic Youth Center, William Way LGBT Community Center, and the City of Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT+ Affairs — and Morris Home works in active partnership with all of them to connect residents to aftercare, long-term housing, medical services, and community.
