Now in its 80th year of existence, the Union Gospel Mission in Aberdeen is providing new and improved services both for men staying at the shelter, and the general homeless population, thanks to last summer’s completed renovations.

Union Gospel’s front room on Heron Street, which had been a storage room, is now a daytime refuge space, where anyone can take a rest or wait for free lunch and dinner. Also in the front is a hub of new bathrooms, equipped with three showers (which only men are allowed to use).

The kitchen and eating area have been rebuilt, and allow the mission to serve more than 100 people at a time, as opposed to 54 in the past. The mission’s executive director Gary Rowell joked that the kitchen used to be located where his personal office is now and was about the same size.

The eating space also serves as the mission’s chapel. People from local ministries come to speak on the stage and movies can be shown on a big screen.

All the storage space has been moved to a new warehouse building behind the main mission building, where mountainous piles of clothes, furniture and other goods wait to be distributed.

These renovations were made possible by a $750,000 federal grant, and a $250,000 county grant, which combined with donations and fundraising came out to around a $1.2 million total cost, said Laurel Wiitala, the mission’s chief of operations.

The overnight beds at Union Gospel are only for men, but they also run the Friendship House, which is reserved for women. On a day last week, Wiitala estimated around 26 of the mission’s 40 beds were being used by men staying there, all of whom are required to do a 30-minute Bible study five days a week, and each has to perform a certain chore such as cleaning or cooking. Rowell said that while some could cite the religious aspect of the mission as the reason there are 14 empty beds, he thinks it’s mainly because some homeless people do not want to get sober.

“We can blame it on religion, but that’s not really it. They just don’t want to follow the rules,” said Rowell.

According to Wiitala, the number of overnight residents was up around the low 30s over the winter, partially because the weather was milder this year, she said.

The shelter has a fairly strict no drugs or alcohol policy, and if mission staff believe someone is high or secretly doing drugs, they will require guests to provide a urine sample and test it for drugs. If someone is caught using, or if they steal or act violently, the mission can remove guests staying there. There is also a 7 p.m. curfew for men staying at the shelter. Wiitala said these are measures to protect people staying there who are working to get off any addiction.

“The reason we run so structured is we have men, and women at Friendship House, who want to get clean and sober and get on with their lives,” said Wiitala. “They realize they are done with the cycle they’ve been in. We’re going to protect them.”

Men are allowed to stay however long they want, and can stay for just a few nights if they wish. But if they leave the mission, there’s a policy that prohibits them from returning to sleep over for 30 days. The policy is an incentive for people to stay longer and consider going sober.

Men who stay for longer periods can follow a nine-month religious program. These guests spend the first three months of the program doing intensive Bible study, and the final six months in a class that helps them confront the issues that led them to the shelter, and how to improve their lives going forward.

“It’s a lot of homework and studying, for many many hours,” said Frank Wilcox, who has lived at the shelter for about a year now, but has spent multiple years living there previously. “It’s a good program, it helps you see things you’re doing wrong before you do it.”

After those nine months are up, Rowell encourages participants to stay for the rest of the year, and to perform jobs around the shelter or warehouse that build income before a guest considers leaving the shelter. There’s only one person in the program right now, but typically there are five or six, Rowell said. He added that there are people who have stayed at the shelter for years and gotten sober without participating in this program.

Getting kicked out of the shelter isn’t usually a permanent ban, unless the guest was acting particularly violent, and Rowell said he has had people he’s told to leave in the past and then welcomed them back when they returned.

“I’ve had guys I tell, ‘Don’t ever come back!’” said Rowell. “Then in a month or two I say, ‘I’m sorry, come on back.’”

But some in the community are upset that Union Gospel has over a dozen empty beds that could be used by others who are sleeping on the street or in tents. Alice McGarrah, who is the donation room coordinator for Revival of Grays Harbor, said it is “ridiculous” that 14 of the mission’s beds are empty, and added that when the cold weather shelter for Revival was open they would sometimes have around 50 people sleeping there.

Sandie Norris, who is Revival’s treasurer, said that while she understands having a no drug policy and curfew, having a more open structure could better serve the homeless community.

“I totally get having rules, but they’re limiting the people they can serve with their methods,” said Norris. “We had a completely open door policy for our cold weather shelter, and made it work.”

Revival had operated a cold weather shelter in the basement of First United Methodist Church, and did so without requiring those sleeping over to be sober. It ran from February 2017 until last January, when the church decided it would no longer host the shelter, and opened whenever the temperature dropped below 35 degrees at night.

Rowell said that while he didn’t think the Revival shelter was sustainable without many policies, he appreciates the work they did to assist those suffering from addictions.

“I was glad they did the shelter, because there are a number of people we can’t help because they are high and drunk,” said Rowell.

Even though some question the policies of the mission, Rowell said he is committed to assisting people in bad situations, and looks forward to doing so.

“People think ‘You’re heartless because you don’t let everyone stay,’ but if I were heartless I wouldn’t have been here 30 years,” said Rowell. “I love what I do and getting people out of the mess they’re in.”

The Union Gospel Mission’s day room is open from 7 a.m. to around 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and the showers and clothing bank are open for men Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.