BY VINAYA SAKSENA

CUMBERLAND — A small local organization that has provided a home to many who did not have one — often until their dying day — may be the latest casualty of the budget crisis that has officials in Rhode Island and beyond in a panic, according to the organization’s founder.

For over a decade, the House of Compassion has provided medical services and what founder Colleen Scanlon calls a caring, homelike atmosphere to patients suffering from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). With a staff totaling just four members, including Scanlon, the House of Compassion has survived on donations and grant money since it was opened in 1994.
Now, Scanlon says, she has been informed that the federal funding administered to the House of Compassion each year by Rhode Island Housing- in the amount of roughly $210,000- has been ceased. The news has hit her hard, she said, particularly after all the work she and her staff have put into the facility.
“I’ve held a hundred people in my arms as they passed away from AIDS,” Scanlon said. “And that takes a toll on a person. And what is HUD (The US Department of Housing and Urban Development) doing but (preserving) the middle management positions?”
The cessation of funds to the House of Compassion apparently stemmed from an audit of Rhode Island Housing’s financial affairs, which Scanlon said required all organizations receiving funding from them, such as the House of Compassion, to be audited as well. Concerns about the financial management of the House of Compassion were apparently raised in the audit, though Scanlon pointed out that this information came from a draft report as a result of the audit.
A Rhode Island Housing representative could not be reached for comment in time for this article. Scanlon said she would be willing to work with the officials involved to find a solution, but said she found the cessation of funds to her organization an extreme response to the problem, particularly given her organization’s track record.
“I’ve saved the state thousands of dollars,” Scanlon said. “We’re the only community residence within the state of Rhode Island that does this. And we provide top-notch services.”
Holding a master’s degree in counseling from Providence College, Scanlon ran a private counseling practice and worked in the substance abuse unit at Fuller Hospital in Attleboro, Massachusetts before she made the decision to open what became the House of Compassion. She said she made the decision while recuperating after a fall that resulted in a broken knee, reflecting on what she had seen in the community while working as a case manager in Providence.
“I was literally watching people die on the street. It really started to bother me.” 
The House of Compassion Corporation was founded in 1994, with the facility opening at a historic house on Mendon Road. Scanlon said she had seen the house up for sale, but when she inquired found the owner willing to rent it to her newly founded organization.
Today, Scanlon maintains a staff of four including herself, occupying herself with family and individual counseling, supervision, public relations and grant writing, to name a few tasks. The staff also includes a house manager with a medical technology degree who oversees day-to-day operations, plus a night manager/ CNA and a fourth staffer who helps patients secure social services and works with Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) software, which helps track homeless people.
Scanlon said she did not collect a salary at first, and when she started to, collected just $600 per month. All salaries, she said, are among the costs covered to date by grant money.
“I was the last person to take a salary,” she said. “It wasn’t until the last couple of years that I got compensated on a decent level.”
Scanlon said she rejects the idea that she must close her facility. And while she remains frustrated at the circumstances the House of Compassion is currently facing, she said she hopes to come to an agreement with state officials over funding, though she is prepared to look into other means of keeping the facility open if necessary.
“We would hope we could resolve the problems with Rhode Island Housing and that we could all move forward,” Scanlon said. “(Otherwise), we’ll just try to find funding from other sources.”