State housing secretary says negotiations underway to purchase Charlesgate as shelter

PROVIDENCE —  Workers who lost their jobs when a 120-bed North Main Street nursing facility closed down in June are questioning the state’s role in converting the property into a homeless shelter.

The Rhode Island Department of Housing announced June 30 that it would support Amos House by paying $72,000 in monthly rent to Davenport Associates, owner of the former Charlesgate Nursing Center complex, for 57 rooms now occupied by 21 families. The families, who moved in the day the announcement was made, previously had been staying at extended stay hotels with the cost paid for by the state.

Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor said the move was part of efforts to expand infrastructure to serve the unhoused and that the state was interested in acquiring the property.

“We are in negotiations for the acquisition of Charlesgate,” he told Rhode Island Current “And there are other (properties) in which it is possible that we would acquire, but it is not a necessary precondition for service providers to start working out of the sites.”

Pryor added that the list of properties the department is looking into is now “in the dozens.” 

In May, Davenport Associates, announced plans to close the nursing home, prompting Service Employees International Union 1199 to call for state intervention to stop the process that eventually left over 90 workers without employment.

The facility’s population at the time consisted of indigent patients, many of whom dealt with a substance use disorder, mental health issues and chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

“Davenport told the workers they were closing because they couldn’t afford to keep the nursing home open, but it seems like they had a plan all along to rent out the place for more money,” Edwina Globewole, an SEIU member, wrote in an email Thursday. She worked as a certified nursing assistant at the facility for 30 years before its closure.

“None of the workers were offered new jobs, and residents were transferred against their will without a legal closure plan in place,” Globewole added.

Housing Department spokesman Joey Lindstrom said that no patients were moved as a result of the placement.

“Since our first conversations with ownership in late March, no one has been living on the floors Amos House is currently using for shelter services,” he said. “This has remained true throughout our negotiations.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Labor and Training said Charlesgate staff were offered the agency’s rapid response services as well as a targeted job fair to help them find employment.

“It is really sad that Davenport was allowed to get rid of the services we provided to the poor and elderly to now make $72,000 a month in profit,” Globewole continued. “It’s not right.”

Neil Shunney, Davenport’s president, was unavailable for comment. 

Lindstrom said the rent would be covered by the state as long as Amos House continued to submit the appropriate information and needed the assistance.

Operations at the facility will be funded in part from a $30 million allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funding Gov. Dan McKee proposed to expand unhoused services infrastructure.

Wrap-around services provided by Amos House to families at Charlesgate will include case management services that connect households to essential benefits along with opportunities related to housing searches, job training, childcare, healthcare, and transportation.

“We have seen a substantial increase in the number of unhoused families who need assistance,” Amos House’s CEO Eileen Hayes said in the June 30 news release announcing the shelter’s operation. “The move to Charlesgate will allow us to provide shelter to a greater number of families, ensuring that children and parents have safe and supportive housing while we address their long-term needs.”

Lindstrom said the agency is looking into “the feasibility of acquiring the property” with an eye on lowering operating costs.

The announcement happened hours after a Request for Proposals was put out for $9.5 million from the Consolidated Homeless Fund Partnership to operate emergency shelters, conduct homeless outreach, provide case management services, make rent payments through rapid rehousing programs, and other services.

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