It’s unfortunate Haven Healthcare was unable revive an assisted living home in Cape Elizabeth that has struggled to comply with state and federal regulations for years.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, the guarantor on the loan, foreclosed on the home this month after Haven stopped making mortgage payments in September.

However, Haven’s decision to allow people to continue moving into the home in recent weeks, when the company certainly knew the end was near, was irresponsible.

That move seems to be in keeping with a home that has let its residents down at almost every turn. The state has repeatedly cited the home’s operators for failing to comply with state standards.

To be fair, the home had problems before Haven owned and operated it. Under a previous owner and name, Viking Nursing Home, a resident wandered away from the home and drowned in 2002.

Since then, Haven took over operation of the home and later ownership. The problems haven’t abated under Haven. The same month the company began operating the home, the state declared residents there in “immediate jeopardy” after the state received complaints that residents had bedsores. The state gave Haven two weeks to remedy the problem, but when inspectors returned, they found more patients with bedsores.

Last September, the state inspected the home after receiving a complaint that the home failed to report that a patient had been injured in a fall. The state again declared residents there were in “immediate jeopardy.” Haven decided to close the nursing home shortly after that.

“It was the end of the road when the nursing facility closed,” said Haven Executive Vice President Anthony Scierka.

Haven has been investing money in the home throughout this time. The company’s desire to cut its losses after sinking $3.5 million into home is understandable. But the company should have been looking out for patients at the same time that it was looking out of the interests of the company.

One resident, Pauline Johnson, just moved into the assisted living home a few weeks ago – about the same time the Department of Housing and Urban Development was foreclosing on the property. Now she’ll be forced to move to yet another home in less than a month.

Scierka said the company has been trying to sell the home. “There’s always the hope that there’s an eleventh hour,” he said.

Obviously, continuing to operate the home makes it easier to sell. However, Haven hasn’t made a mortgage payment since September. Facing imminent foreclosure, it’s irresponsible to allow people to continue to move in.

People who live in assisted living homes are typically in fragile health. The companies who are charged with their care shouldn’t shuffle them from home to home as though they were checkers on a checkerboard.

Given this track record, the Department of Health and Human Services should watch the closing of the home closely to make sure all of the residents are given adequate assistance in finding new homes.

Haven also needs to make good on its promise to hold a career fair for the 45 employees who will lose their jobs as a result of the closure.

Brendan Moran, editor