Harrington Hall Fails Inpsection

Harrington Hall failed a recent state inspection due to leaky roofs, holes in the showers, electrical problems and other maintenance issues.

As a result, advocates for the homeless say it's time to move the state's largest homeless shelter out of Harrington Hall and into another location.

According to WPRI, the 88-bed shelter was found to have numerous violations. Jim Ryczek, executive director of the RI Coalition for the Homeless said another place that could serve as a shelter is the nearby former Gloria McDonald women's prison, which was emptied when a new building opened earlier this year.

The state's chief of the Rhode Island Housing Resources Commission, Michael Tondra, said the state can make the repairs.

But Ryczek isn't so sure.

The shelter is "not an acceptable place to house people," he told the Providence Journal.

The shelter has been a point of interest for many Cranston residence, since it houses many registered sex offenders and former inmates who have just been released from prison. There has been a chorus of voices from residents of Cranston who have been asking the state to move the shelter somewhere else.