Plans to turn an old emergency shelter for homeless people into transitional housing are on hold after the shelter caught fire three times earlier this week.

Jean Dube, the executive director of House of Nazareth, said his focus is still to move forward with converting the building into transitional housing units for people moving from shelters into affordable housing.

Although the decision to rebuild the structure will depend on the total cost of the damage and whether House of Nazareth has enough money to do so.

"That's the big question right there," Dube said. "Where do we go from here? … I want to wait and see what the outcome is when all the numbers fall on table and [what] our capacity is to move forward as well."

Moncton's old House of Nazareth on Clark Street initially caught fire in the washroom on Monday, then again on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the fire was rekindled around 7:30 a.m. between the ground floor and second floor of the house.

House of Nazareth opened its new homeless shelter on Albert Street last week, and no one was living or working in the Clark Street building. But some equipment, furnishings, food, clothing and archives inside the old house had not yet been transferred.

"I'd like to get in there and get the archives … it's the history of the House of Nazareth. We've helped people there for 40 years."

Investigators told Dube on Thursday he may be able to enter the building.

Investigators also told him the building's structure was comprised, and it may be a writeoff.

'I'm getting ready for that type of news — that it's a total loss," he said.

The house and surrounding property are now barred to the public until further notice.

"Right now we just want to keep the site safe make sure that nobody goes in there and gets hurt."

No one was injured in the fire, but the building was heavily damaged. RCMP are investigating.