McKee: Former Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, Providence nursing home to shelter homeless

PAWTUCKET - The former Memorial Hospital has emerged as the centerpiece of the McKee administration's effort to provide 127 additional "emergency shelter beds" for Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness.

Under the plan Gov. Dan McKee announced Thursday morning, the state is also providing funding for 20 new "quarantine and isolation" beds - at a shuttered Providence nursing home - for "housing insecure individuals and families who test positive for COVID-19."

The governor's office said more such announcements are coming, along with more details on the $4 million patchwork state and federal dollars the McKee administration is using to secure the sites and pay for the expanded services.

"It is crucial that we provide shelter to get Rhode Islanders off the streets - now," McKee said Thursday.

In her turn, Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos echoed what the leaders of the tent encampment outside the State House have said : "There are people out there that are going to be dying if they don't have a place to sleep.

"And it doesn't happen just with a press conference,'' she said, ahead of the media event that Democrats Matt Brown, a candidate for governor, and Sen. Cynthia Mendes, running for lieutenant governor, called for Thursday afternoon to take credit for putting the spotlight on homelessness, by camping out outside the State House the last two weeks..

McKee said: "We are listening to anybody who wants to talk about the issue but I think it is a little presumptive to think that any one group got us here today."

Thursday's announcement shined a light on a number of behind-the-scenes activities.

They included: a previously unpublicized loan a day or two earlier by the Rhode Island Foundation of about $100,000 to lock in hotel rooms for emergency shelter, and the extra lengths "Open Doors" went to make sure the residents of a Providence Housing Authority building on Plainfield Street were okay with having the shelter that opened Wednesday in their building.

Nick Horton, the co-executive director of Open Doors, said this one project was in the works for six months and the one thing that has slowed such efforts down the most "has been the resistance amongst everyday Rhode Islanders to having a shelter in their backyard.

"That comes out in all sorts of ways, such as zoning laws, which make these sorts of projects extremely challenging."

"We pledged we would not do it unless the other tenants in the building [who] are all individuals that have their own apartments..and all have Section 8 and they all have criminal records...voted to allowed the shelter. And they did." Of the 18 who voted, he said: eleven said yes.

"A lot of them have experiences homelessness themselves."

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Here's what is known so far:

The Amos House will be opening what is described as a "non-congregate shelter program,'' with up to 80 beds, and separate rooms for each family, at the former Memorial Hospital. The administration anticipates families will be able to move in starting next week.

The former hospital was purchased by Lockwood Development earlier this year, for the price of a single-family home. The developer envisioned redeveloping the long-vacant property into a housing and education center for veterans.

The temporary use of the hospital for those without homes or in imminent danger of homelessness "was arranged in close collaboration" with the City of Pawtucket, Lockwood Development, and Veteran Services USA (VSUSA), according to a summary provided to The Journal in response to an inquiry.

The package announced Thursday also provides additional beds - or hotel vouchers - to the operators of existing shelters:

WOONSOCKET: Community Care Alliance has agreed to add up to 10 hotel vouchers to their existing contract in the Woonsocket area starting later this week.

EAST PROVIDENCE: The House of Hope will add 22 beds to those it currently provides at local motels.

PROVIDENCE: Open Doors has committed to expanding their current operations to add 15 beds, which are up and running as of this week.

PROVIDENCE: The opening of a new 20-bed "quarantine & isolation facility" in the former Hallworth House nursing home in Providence this week was credited to a collaboration between the Episcopal Diocese and the West Bay Community Action Program.

When the nursing home announced plans to close in June 2020, it became the first one to fail since the coronavirus pandemic began devastating Rhode Island's long-term care facilities.

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The state said the re-opening of a quarantine and isolation facility enables other homeless shelter "to restore capacity they lost due to social distancing requirements. Most notably, Crossroads anticipates it will be able to add beds at Harrington Hall in Cranston to serve housing insecure individuals."

McKee's announcement is the latest in a series, amid heightened attention at the legislative level to the dearth of affordable housing - and nightly encampments outside the State House by activists and an opposing candidate for governor - seeking to draw attention to the plight of the homeless.

The McKee administration earlier pieced together $5.1 million to provide an additional 217 winter shelter beds - and 298 overall - for people without homes.

According to the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness, 361 people were known to be unsheltered during a 14-day period that ran from November 21 through December 4.

A spokeswoman for the coalition told The Journal, the 14-day count is the most recent reflection of the number of people "unsheltered and seeking shelter."

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