Room in the Inn breaks ground on facility expansion; new area will serve unhoused families

Room in the Inn held a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for the new addition to its current facility at the Collins Chapel Connectional Hospital. This starts the second phase of the facility, which currently holds the Family Inn and recuperative care program in the former hospital.

"Today, we celebrate an opportunity to expand our capacity to serve families with children who come to our Family Inn on this campus for a place to breathe and a place to find new ways to navigate systems that are often beyond their capacity," said Lisa Anderson, executive director of Room in the Inn.

The new addition will house a childcare center for families. Anderson said that often times lack of childcare is a barrier to employment and thus housing.

"The inability to access childcare is the brick wall that too often is a parent's journey out of homelessness with their children. Without accessible childcare there is no path to employment, without employment, there is no path to housing–this project will change that," Anderson said.

Early childcare and after-school programming will be in the new space and connected to the existing facility. The hope is for the new facility to be done with construction within a year, and with programming officially starting by September 2025. Capacity for the childcare center and after-school programming is still being finalized.

The Family Inn and recuperative care program has been in place since 2021 in the already renovated facility. The Family Inn offers space for 14 families and the recuperative care program has a capacity of 21 people with 14 different rooms.

Mayor Paul Young, during his time as the director of Housing and Community Development for the city, connected RITI with the Methodist Episcopal Church and aided in bringing the then-vacant facility back to life. Young was present during the ceremony and spoke highly of both Anderson and CME Bishop Henry M. Williamson Sr. and their work together to bring the project to fruition.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Room in the Inn breaks ground on facility expansion; new area will serve unhoused families