Central City Lutheran Mission - San Bernardino, California

Abdul

First , THIS IS A MENS ONLY SHELTER.
Unless things changed.

Also ,this was my experience at the time.
Maybe things have changed.....

Personal Pros

Better than no shelter at all.
You can sleep, clean yourself , get food and coffee in morning . Felt reasonably safe from violence. You can keep a small amount of stuff there.

Personal Cons

Best for people who have almost nothing.
They have rules which can make an overall
decent , law abiding , freedom - loving person feel uncomfortable , as if the place is for ex -cons and the mentally unstable. Such as daily metal detection involving taking off ones belt .
They also require you to where a mask and take your temperature before you enter premises, and they may comment if you don't have it on. You can get mail there, but , they put it on a common area table , that has access to.
Apparently , they trust you not to steal mail , but , not enough to let you walk inside sleeping area without metal detection.
They have a weird rule about no bags inside sleeping area. Only one clear plastic bag for hygiene. Not good for some who keeps a lot of plastic bags to protect personal property
from moisture, and other potential damage .
Had important papers get damaged due to rain and wear . The only shift you can work is a morning shift to the best of my knowledge.
This is said to keep from disrupting others.

Nothing christian about this place aside from it once being a church. This place gets funding from the government and seems to
lean towards government - style beuracracy.
That is good for enforcing repeatable, constructive rules and policies, but bad if one feels the policies and rules are not the best or counter - productive, due to rigidity.
I personally wish they only called it central city mission, and lose the Lutheran part.
Seems misleading in my opinion.
Again, best for men with close to nothing.
For men who are overlall , law - abiding and freedom loving , it can feel unnecessarily complicated .

Dave L.

It is a place to eat shower sleep. It is also a place to get on your feet. You get 90 days. In that time if you find work and do it right. You can have cash in your pocket at the end of 90 days. The office staff are very helpful and have great hearts. If you really want help they do all they can for you. Yes some RVs feel they are more then they are. But not all of them do. Rules are not hard not a lot to handle yes I am a RV here as well as a client.

Liewei Z.

They moved to a new location, the original location is under construction

Linda H.

Amazing experience! It didn’t have to do with religion... What I am trying to convey is that they did NOT force their religious views onto me It was more of a great experience because they were being humanitarians. These group of people have given to those in need that others could not. e.g, Free eye exams, diagnosis, prescription, lenses and frames. Even the free IEHP insurance in our county wont cover the whole package deal.

hgi 6.

Good homeless shelter for mens! Good staff! Andrew volunteer was a brilliant of this place! Thank you Papa!) Just be ready for fight with bed bugs!)
Lunch at noon for nonresidents, for everybody! Also dinner in sunday at 6 pm!

Rhonda C.

This is a shelter for men only so I've never had any personal contact with them outside of food giveaways which were pretty good.. I do know a few men that have or currently reside at the homeless shelter and have said that the RV's which are shelter residents that work around the place in order to be able to stay on the grounds while everyone else have to leave for the day, are very disrespectful and mean to the other residents there. They taunt them and have thrown objects that the other residents need onto the floor and made them pick them up if they wanted it. I won't continue to go on about that although there is so much more to speak on about this issue. I've spoken to some of the guys there or were there that are giving me their written statements about their mistreatment by the RVs which will be forwarded to the proper management.. One of the guys left the shelter not having a place to sleep because of the mistreatment.. I feel that something should be done because it is unfair.

Darren D.

I think I was treated with an unusual intensity by the African American ronman who was explaining the rules . Told me to shut up repeatedly. Dont go here homeless unless you enjoy being treated like a criminal, kinda dictator like! Nobody wears a mask. Kind of sketchy

Brett B.

Find another shelter. First day I was there I was not given the rules for the facility so was constantly barraged by staff, RV's about not following rules (which some were sometimes so senseless and unreasonable I was always asking to see where these "rules" were written down, but never got an answer). Depending on which RV was around, the rules were constantly being changed from one minute to the next. Check in process fell flat, as not only was I not assigned a bed, given a bin for my things, I was not explained the "rules" or given even a lackluster tour of the site. It was not untill 9PM the first night that I was given a mat to sleep on, and not untill well past midnight while sleeping that I was given a bin for my things. One of the rules states you must keep your things in your bin or they are subject for confiscation. When I awoke the next morning, my phone, charger, cigarettes, and lighter had been confiscated (due to me being asleep when I was finally given bin). I spoke with the RV and explained the situation about the bin and he admitted he was the one that took my items in the night and just asked to verify the items that were confiscated and he can give them back at 9AM later on in the day. I did as asked and he did give me my phone and charger, when I asked about the cigarettes his response was "I left them right here this morning, but I do not know what happened to them". Seems fishy to me..A week later my $850 iPhone was confiscated in the middle of the night, when asked about it one of the RDC's had said he remembers seeing it locked up with the other confiscated phones, I was told to come back and speak with Mike Miller at 2PM that day, but again got the response "I remember seeing it, but can't seem to find it." Mike Miller and his guys did not seem to care one bit about my phone and its whereabouts. I may as well got a response from the man himself saying "well not my problem". They need new management that are doing more than collecting a paycheck as well as some more trustworthy RV's/ faculty that have access to the locked rooms.