By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence officially shuttered the stately St. Francis House yesterday, leaving the fate of the longtime affordable assisted living facility in limbo.

Michael Guilfoyle, a spokesman for the diocese, said the building may be sold, but the diocese has no firm plans for it at the moment.
“It's one of many options under consideration,” he said. “Our focus has  been on relocating the residents. Only now has the diocese begun to look at the best future use of the building.”
St. Francis House had served for decades as an assisted living center for the low-income elderly, but the diocese announced in May that it could no longer afford to operate the facility. Even though resident care was heavily subsidized by government programs and the Catholic Charity Fund Appeal, the facility was losing some $10,000 a month. The proverbial straw was an order from the state Fire Marshal's Office calling for a half-million dollars in fire code upgrades.
The 57-bed facility was operating near full capacity when the diocese began relocating residents a few at a time this spring, said Jim Nyberg, director of the Rhode Island Association of Facilities and Services for the Aging. Nyberg said the residents have “basically been scattered all around the state” in facilities specializing in various levels of care, including assisted living and nursing homes.
“In general, I think it is kind of a big deal because the state is going to be looking for affordable assisted living beds, especially as it institutes the Global Medicaid Waiver,” he said. “The loss of these 57 beds is a big loss to the state.”
One of the goals of the Global Medicaid Waiver is to reduce the state's total nursing home census, which means diverting patients into alternative settings such as home care and assisted living facilities, said Nyberg. Assisted living beds are already comparatively scarce, but affordable ones like those at St. Francis House are expected to be even harder to find.
Located at 167 Blackstone St., St. Francis House is a majestic, Georgian-inspired brick building with two mirror-image wings. The building is three stories high, with an ornate porch-like structure of wood that serves as the facade. The age of the building is unknown, but it crops up in city tax records for the first time in 1928. Though St. Francis House is exempt from property taxes, like other church-owned real estate, the assessor's office says the worth of the building was pegged at $986,500 in a 2009 appraisal.
The diocese says the facility was launched by the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany as a home for working Irish women and was converted into affordable living quarters in the 1930s. For many years, it has served as a home for low-income elderly people who required assistance with routine daily chores, administration of medication and personal care, but who were too healthy to qualify for nursing home care.
The end drew near in December 2008 after inspectors from the state fire marshal's office ordered St. Francis House to replace its antiquated sprinklers and alarms, saying they were in violation of new codes that took effect after the 2004 fire at West Warwick's Station nightclub in which 100 were killed. The sprinkler heads were not only obsolete, the fire marshal's office said, but they did not provide adequate coverage throughout the building.
To achieve full compliance with the order would have cost “a minimum of $500,000” in upgrades, the diocese said in a statement earlier this year.
“We were forced with no other option but to close St. Francis House,” Administrator Helen Stradone said at the time. “I am proud of the dignified and and peaceful home we created for so many elderly with little or no means. The work we perform is the work of Christ, providing for the least among us.”