Union Gospel Mission Dallas — Local services in Dallas

November 2022-March 2023- Washers & dryers not working, people are wearing dirty clothes. Don't have money for laundromats, haven't had hot water for months, causing people to get sick. Malnutrition. Very little food served, cold food due to no gas heating for cooking, showers, etc

06/23/23- wanted to update on some of the current situations above. Due to heavy complaints of bed bugs viruses bacteria mold and funguses the health department was called by numerous anonymous complaints and were sent out to do Health inspections and found overwhelming amounts of violations, water leaks, Heating units and air conditioning units that needed serious repairs and replacements and we're not compliant with health and safety codes, numerous amounts of residence at least 50% have gone to Parkland Hospital was complaints of sicknesses. Some residents were pulling bed bugs out of people's skin and the health department had had enough on the complaints and sent out inspection Crews to come and massively exterminate the building and had Replacements of mattresses and other furnishings I am not sure if this business was fined for their violations but should have been. Needless to say as of this date Corrections are underway and a lot have been made to comply and keep the doors open. Healthier food is being served from time to time as they rely on donations.

At this time a lot of residents complaints are that when they go to the hospital and return their personal belongings clothing shoes toiletries pictures are being stolen or thrown away which is against the law, even after being told by various chaplains and disciples on recorded telephone calls that there belongings are safe in storage or containers. This is a house of the Lord!!!!! Why are these things happening in the Lords house???? Shame on you UGM! Chaplains Brooks, Butler, Charles, Devon, Adele, Philips, Courouthers, your disciples are threatening the residents that they will be kicked out if they come to you and tell you these things because a lot of these issues are coming from your disciples! I encourage you as well as a lot of these reviewers on these posts on your website, to have conversations privately or in group sessions with your residents without your disciples being present as your residents want to get to know all of you as Chaplains and want to feel comfortable to be able to come to you directly when there are problems that arise. Some of your very own disciples are committing crimes on your property. Drugs as well as other items that are given to the residents for free. Some residents even handicapped people have reported having their lockers broken into and having items stolen from them including some money.

If I know all of this information and the reviewers know a lot of this information and the residents that are currently living there know a lot of this information and are reporting this information you should be knowing this information as well and should be implementing policies to correct all of these measures and enforce better safety standards at UGM.

Do not plan on staying her unless you plan to give them 50% of your income. They say verbally it is for operational expenses which I believe is against the tax laws since they are a 501c3, but they also say it is a savings account too so they can collect interest off of your money and when it is time for you to leave, you can receive your money back. It is suppose to help those to learn to save money, but the problem is, there are no financial classes for clients to do that, so when the clients leave and spend all of the money they get back when they leave, they come right back because they have spent it all! Not a good policy to have.

Also if you do not contribute 50% of your funds to them, they will kick you out! Nothing on paper that says they collect your money, nothing on paper that says they will kick you out, nothing on paper of any rules, NOTHING!!!! They refuse to give you copies when asked. Something fishy going on here. Needs to be...

I stayed at the Calvert Place Men's Shelter of the Union Gospel Mission in Dallas. After staying there for 7 weeks, I can only recommend this place if you are seriously desperate!

Their website mentions the teachings of Jesus, but nowhere does it say that you will be living in a church and must attend church services. You must leave the dorms by 7:30am and cannot return until 7:45pm or whenever the evening chapel service is finished, whichever is later. And you cannot return to the dorms (and your locker) before that time. So if you happen to forget something in your locker, you are simply out of luck!

Yes, I was grateful for my time there, having 3 meals a day and a place to sleep. But hopefully, I will never have to stay here again. If you think I'm exaggerating, read some of the other reviews about this place!

Pros It's better than living on the street It's a pretty clean shelter You can stay there indefinitely. Most shelters allow you to stay only 1 to 3 months at a time but UGM allows you to stay as long as you want You don't have to do any chores (unlike some shelters) You are free to leave the shelter during the day, as long as you return by 6pm They have full-size lockers (but you must supply your own lock)

Pros or Cons, depending on your disposition +/- They force-feed you religion, whether you want it or not, all day, every day +/- Every evening at 7pm, including weekends, there is a mandatory chapel service for all staff and guests +/- They often play Christian music and taped sermons SO LOUD you can hardly hear yourself think +/- They claim their lessons are based on Southern Baptist teachings but nowhere do they tell you that - not on their website and not during intake.

Cons The shelter is run like a prison. There are 5-6 "major" control freaks, and a couple-dozen "minor" control freaks, all trying to play god. Even though it's supposed to be a "Christian" organization, it's amazing how much rampant anger and hypocrisy there is amongst the staff. The hypocritical attitude of the staff is, "Do as we say, not as we do" The head chaplain is a megalomaniac and control freak. He truly believes he is God incarnate, and acts like it! They offer anger management classes for the guests but ironically, many staff members should attend those anger management classes! Staying with more than 300 people is much different than staying with only 40 or 50 people! Every day is a copy of the previous day -- weekends and holidays are meaningless. Their routine never changes! They complain if you miss "church" but they never consider the fact that so many people "attending" church are asleep, on their phone, talking amongst themselves, or otherwise ignoring the sermon. But hey, they are in church! You are required to shower with other men every night; if you are uncomfortable seeing naked men -- or being seen naked yourself by other men -- you are in for a rude awakening! (Personally, I never want to see another naked man again for as long as I live!) They don't enforce their headphones policy: many people openly blast their cellphones or laptops, playing music or having "personal" conversations on speaker phone. But the staff simply doesn't care. It's always noisy, day and night! If you want any peace and quiet, you have to completely leave the facility. There are no "breaks" -- there is never any time you can return to the dorms...

What a horrible set of people to leverage their control over the absolute poor. That's not love - its abuse.

They make these people pay $200 to "prove" they work and buy a "work pass" so they can have the freedom to simply come back later than 6 pm. If you don't pay this and you come back even moments after 6 - they break YOUR locks (and dont pay you back for them) and go through YOUR stuff. Supposedly they will return the 200 when you eventually leave, but for someone who cant even afford to eat every day and who makes minimum wage (if they can manage to stick a job at all) 200 dollars is an obscene amount of cash from someone's savings for real shelter or an eventual car or bike. Plus it doesnt even "prove" that they work??? Why not just ask for an email from the employer?

Upon entry the security is very agressive with your things.

And they wake you up in the early hours of the morning to force these people to pray - other wise they dont get a roof over their head. I can't recall Jesus forcing those he helped to pray to his god before he helped, or saying you use the threat of being on the streets to force people into a space they are uncomfortable with.

Lets get one thing straight: people cannot give consent if they are being forced and threatened. The hungry and unhoused do not get the same freedom of choice their "caretakers" do.

People are treated like they are cattle or rabid animals - not free thinking human beings who...