Yearlong renovation was supported by the ACA Affordable Housing Fund
There’s more Room at the Inn for families experiencing homelessness following a renovation of the shelter in Bridgeton.
Room at the Inn reopened its expanded and redesigned facility in early December with space for about 35 people, up from 20 before. The shelter serves families of all kinds, including single-parent mothers or fathers, multigenerational families and other caregivers and children.
The updates also include a new reception area, board room and empowerment center, which is used to host classes on topics including financial literacy, job interview skills and parenting courses. New counseling rooms offer private space for in-person or virtual mental health care, while a nurse’s office, library, laundry space, technology room and additional bathrooms and showers allow residents to live more comfortably and readily access resources.
“We want to expand our partnership reach in the coming year, now that we’re settled back in the building, to see what more we can do for our clients but also what we can do for the entire community,” Room at the Inn executive director Laurie Phillips said.
Room at the Inn received a $150,000 grant from the Annual Catholic Appeal’s Affordable Housing Fund in 2024, which went toward the building’s new kitchen. The previous small galley kitchen was transformed into a spacious, open room with gleaming white countertops, two stoves, three sinks, expanded refrigerator, freezer and pantry space and adjoining tables and chairs for dining. Clients can cook their own food during the day, and volunteers bring in meals five nights per week.
Room at the Inn was founded by the Sisters of Divine Providence in 1993, operating from its central location in Bridgeton during the day and partnering with more than 50 congregations throughout St. Louis and St. Charles counties to shelter clients overnight. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Room at the Inn eliminated the use of night sites, moving all services to its Bridgeton building.
During the renovation of the Bridgeton site from November 2024 to November 2025, Room at the Inn hosted clients at a space on the Marygrove campus.
Most Room at the Inn clients are not chronically homeless but have “hit a bump in the road,” Phillips said. Families can be set adrift after a job loss, experience of domestic violence, or situations where family members they have been staying with cannot manage that many people any more.
Families average about 60 days at Room at the Inn before securing housing but can stay as long as they need to, Phillips said.
“Most of our clients are not working when they come to us, and they also don’t have transportation,” Phillips said. “So those are the two biggest issues that we have in relation to them getting economically or financially stable.”
Once clients are stabilized, finding affordable housing spacious enough for an entire family is a challenge, Phillips said: “Larger units are not available, and when they are available, they’re not affordable.” Families also have to consider school districts and child care availability, she added.
To address that problem, Room at the Inn works to form good relationships with landlords in the area to be able to find the right kind of housing for families, many of whom want to stay in the Bridgeton area after getting settled at Room at the Inn. Case managers continue to support families for about six months after they move out of the facility to make sure they are connected to the resources that will help them remain stable in the long-term.
Even with the expanded space, there’s always more families waiting. From 2023 to 2024, family homelessness increased 13 percent, and the need doesn’t show signs of slowing down, Phillips said.
“There’s never a time when someone exits the program and we don’t have at least one, if not multiple families, kind of waiting in the wings with 211 to be referred in,” she said.
Tia Broadway has been staying at Room of the Inn since July with her children, Zeramiah “Zero” Ford, 5, and Hazel Ford, 3. Her living arrangement with family members in St. Charles had come to an end and she had nowhere to go.
Her Room at the Inn case manager has been helping her work toward a new job; she had an interview the day before and was hopeful to get a call soon. “My next step in life is housing, but I’ve got to get that job first,” she said.
Hazel and Zero played happily in the playroom with 3-year-old Zayla Williams, preparing a feast in the play kitchen. Zayla and her mother, Cardia Lapoole, moved into Room at the Inn in November. Lapoole had lost her job, then fell behind on rent for her apartment in Maplewood and couldn’t catch up.
When she arrived at Room at the Inn, she felt immediately comfortable because it was so family-oriented, she said. “I’d never been in a shelter…but they make you feel like it’s home,” she said.
Lapoole loves to cook — she volunteered to whip up the Thanksgiving meal for the residents — and is particularly enjoying the expansive kitchen at the renovated Bridgeton facility. She was recently offered a job working at the front desk of Room at the Inn, inspired by a client advocate who also was a onetime client.
“She’s been through it like us, and that shows me, OK, you can get through to the other side,” Lapoole said.
