A Mission Moves In

Century-old school building will be a home
to D.C.'s homeless

Reported and produced by Ashley Lau

The run-down Gales School Building, near D.C.'s Union Station, is just a brick shell right now, but soon it will house new residents. On July 17, the D.C. City Council gave a local homeless shelter the go-ahead to move in. The two institutions have shared the city for more than a century, but they've only just found each other.
Listen Now


Propped up by bright-orange scaffolds, the rundown Gales School building on Massachusetts Avenue in D.C. has little more than a brick-wall exterior to it — a stark contrast to the newly developed, high-rise neighborhood that surrounds it.

But after a final nod of approval from the district council on July 17, the old school building is now set to become the new home for a Christian homeless shelter called Central Union Mission.

“We have an indefinite contract to stay there and to provide 150 beds indefinitely,” said David Treadwell, executive director of the mission.

Both Central Union Mission and the Gales School building were established in the 1880s, just three years apart. They both have a long history of service and share over one hundred years in the nation’s capital.

A Long Seven-Year Search

The decision to relocate the homeless shelter to the old school building came after a long seven-year search. Treadwell said two main issues warranted the move: The mission’s current building dates back to 1923, and it was designed as an automobile dealership, lacking the needs of a rescue mission.

“Our elevator is so antiquated that, as far as we know is the only last manually operated elevator in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “I don’t mean just pushing a button - I mean cranking the door shut by hand, and waiting for somebody, an operator, to help you up the elevator, those types of things. We need a modern, state-of-the-art building.”

The Gales School building location offers proximity to downtown, an important component of the shelter’s relocation, Treadwell said.

“We’re going to be more accessible because so many of these men go downtown during the day anyway,” he said. “We’re going to be just over a block from Union Station, we’re going to be about three blocks from the bus station, and we’ll be right on the main thorough fare, being on Massachusetts Avenue.”

While many who are currently with the program will stay and move with the mission, the new Gales School location will extend Central Union’s services to even more men.

“It would be a blessing to people who really need somewhere to go, you know, to get things that they may need, physically and mentally,” said Leonard Joseph Bell Jr., a 45-year-old homeless man who sits a block down from the old school building. “Since they’ve been renovating, I’ve just been walking past it. Sometimes people sleep out there, in the park or on the sides, something like that.”

Since he became homeless three years ago, Bell has roamed the area around Massachusetts Avenue. He said he likes the location because it’s close to downtown, but far enough away to avoid the crowds.

For men like Bell, Central Union will provide, if nothing else, a place to sleep for the night. “I’m not going to bring drugs and weapons in a place like th at because I need that bed to be able to relax mentally, physically, as well as spiritually,” Bell said.

A Spiritual Mission

Gales School building has housed other homeless shelters at various points in its 127-year existence, but Central Union Mission differs in its role as a Christian homeless shelter specially designed for men.

“We have a faith-based program, and so it is a spiritual program with spiritual values that we enforce,” Treadwell said. “The language around here is quite clean and pure.”

Central Union's spiritual transformation program offers men Bible study, counseling, work therapy, daily classes, and eventually, help finding a job and a permanent home.

“They just need more things for those people who come in there that need help; you know, financially, schooling-wise, you know, jobs,” Bell said. “A lot of people may not have gotten that while they were with their families. And they need outside help: people who are concerned about helping them to become somebody.

For many of the shelter’s men, the location of Central Union does not matter as much as the mission itself, said Keith Allen, a cook and member of the mission’s spiritual transformation program. “Wherever they go, I’m hoping I can be there to travel with them too, and be a part of the program,” Allen said. “When you’re homeless, any facility to me is a great place, and this place is good for me.”

The 46-year-old says the home provided by Central Union has helped him get his life back on track. “This is my house; I try to take care of it, clean it,” Allen said. “At least I’m not out on the streets, so this is a great facility for me. But, you know, if they can upgrade it, I’m going along with that too. I’m not hard to please.”

The official move-in date is still a work in progress, and Treadwell says it will be at least a year before construction is complete.

“We want to be sure we have the financial means in place, and we also want to make sure that we can work with the District government to be sure that this takes place,” Treadwell said. “Those are not easy items. It’s not as easy to work with the government as it is to do things privately. But yet, the opportunity here is so big and so good that we’re willing to give it a try.”

After more than a century apart in D.C., Gales and Central Union will come together for the first time.

“We find that intriguing,” Treadwell said. “The old school for the old mission doing the new work.”