Anne M. Nolan, right, president of Crossroads Rhode Island, hugs Patricia Pearson, a client, after speaking about the importance of the shelter for women.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

PROVIDENCE — In a ceremony marked by bright colors but acknowledged regret, Crossroads Rhode Island yesterday opened a new shelter for homeless women.

The shelter, which cost about $500,000 to build and will cost another $350,000 a year to operate, will house up to 55 women a night, said Anne M. Nolan, president of Crossroads.

“I’m not happy that we need to have a shelter,” Nolan told more than 100 guests and elected officials gathered in the sunshine outside the Broad Street center. But Nolan said the community’s response to the emerging crisis of homeless women made yesterday one of her proudest moments.

Crossroads is the state’s largest provider of social services for the homeless, but it was never intended to be an overnight shelter. Its role significantly changed when the state closed the Welcome Arnold Shelter, in Cranston, in March 2007 and dozens rather than a few women began turning up each night with no other place to go.

The women slept on the floors of the center or in bunk beds set up in conference rooms formerly reserved for teenage and family counseling. Compounding the problem has been the growing number of housing foreclosures that has put some renters out on the street.

Last Friday night, an 89-year-old woman showed up at Crossroads looking for a place to stay, said Nolan. She had been evicted from her public-housing apartment after refusing to put out her grandson who was living with her illegally.

Crossroads staff found her a bed at the House of Hope shelter in Warwick. If the woman shows up again at Crossroads, she will have a newly renovated space to stay in.

Crossroads’ new shelter is housed in its basement, which once held the weight room and aerobics area of the former YMCA.

Walls painted a cheerful lavender greet visitors who enter by the day room, which is furnished with deep lounge chairs that can be turned into beds in a pinch. Ten bedrooms can each accommodate four women. Workers chose colorful bedding of lime, mauve and lemon that Nolan said lent a positive atmosphere.

The shelter includes sparkling new bathrooms and shower areas and even a beautician station for women on their way to a job interview.

Nolan thanked the John and Grace Murphy Family Foundation for its gift of $200,000 for the center, as well as corporate donations from Citizens Bank and CVS.

Several elected officials echoed the sentiments of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, who said he was less proud to be at the shelter’s opening than he was “a little ashamed” to live in a society that “allows homelessness to continue.”

Patricia Pearson, 25, who has been living at Crossroads for the last five weeks, thanked the center’s staff and board of directors for their contributions toward the new shelter.

“Many of us have strengths and capabilities,” she said. The homeless just need a little help, she said, “so we all have greater opportunity in doing the same for someone else.”

Nolan said Crossroads must still raise about $200,000 to pay off construction costs. It must also raise almost $300,000 of the $350,000 operating budget for this year.

“I’m hoping,” she said, “the state will come through for us.”

tmooney@projo.com