Our Calling and the homeless were left out in the cold when Our Calling, located just outside Downtown Dallas, was not included when Dallas City Council approved an exception for churches to operate as emergency homeless shelters during extreme cold.
City Council and staff has worked for years on a policy that would create a legal way for churches to open their doors to the homeless on freezing nights. Staff from Our Calling said a change made in the final hour will now leave 270 people out in the cold.
“I think what they are communicating is they don’t care about minorities that are poor, and they sure don’t want them Downtown, and now they don’t even want them a half mile away from Downtown,” said Pastor Wayne Walker, with Our Calling, which is a discipleship ministry to the unsheltered homeless.
Two years ago, the city gave Pastor Wayne Walker a citation for sheltering the homeless during a freezing night.
Our Calling is located immediately outside Downtown, near The Cedars, a community experiencing economic revitalization, bringing calls of racism and privilege.
Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Adam Medrano, Adam Bazaldua, and Omar Narvaez – the Woke Caucus as some refer to them – seemed to justify limiting the homeless at Our Calling.
“We are listening to our constituents, we have enough shelter Downtown. We do. This was supposed to spread it out throughout the city,” said Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Adam Medrano.
This same constituency pushed defunding the police earlier in the year and re-programming funds away from the police department. Their previous stances seem more in favor of bike lanes than actually social services for those in need.
Earlier this year these same members of City Council were prepared to push through $1.9M in CARES Act funding for the Lorenzo Hotel until D12 City Council Member Cara Mendelsohn called attention to the issue.
Additionally, these more challenged socioeconomic areas of Dallas received a smaller percentage of the city rental assistance program than their more wealthy neighbors.
Our Calling
Our Calling is on the frontline of the battle to cure homelessness. They’re on the streets every day meeting the unsheltered homeless of Dallas County, learning their stories, identifying their needs, and theysay connecting their hearts to Christ. We have formed lasting connections with thousands of individuals who we are proud to be able to include among our friends.