Cindy Aguilar -- Men's Housing

You can’t “just get an apartment” when you don’t have an ID, you’re carrying a record, your health is unstable, and the city has too few affordable units to begin with. We’re joined by Cindy Aguilar, Director of Men’s Housing at Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County, for a grounded look at what homelessness actually looks like on the path to permanent housing and why small, practical steps often make the biggest difference.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome

Welcome And A Legacy Honored

SPEAKER_00 0:01

home, Hear Us Now, a podcast of the Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County, a space for all of us seeking what's real and sacred in a world that rushes past the soul. I'm Eric Engelman, a volunteer at UGMTC, and your co-host, President and CEO of UGMTC Charles Wolford. Eric Engelman here in the studio with Charles Wolford. You're grinning, sir. Did you have a good weekend?

SPEAKER_01 0:28

I did, I did. So good to see you, my friend and brother. We had an amazing weekend. This weekend was our opportunity to celebrate officially Don Schisler and his retirement. It was dignitaries and former board members and volunteers and staff and family and friends. So we were able to celebrate the legacy of our friend and our brother Don and Cindy Aguilar. Cindy, welcome to the Welcome Home podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

Thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

It is so good to see you. Both Cindy and I have this thing. She has this unique wave, and I call her Miss America because she has the Miss America wave down.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

That's just something that I just do randomly. And I think even my clients got up to that because when they see me, they'll want to see the wave.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Wow, what

Cindy's Faith And Survival Story

SPEAKER_01 1:53

a blessing.

SPEAKER_03 1:53

Um I started off as an intern. Okay. So I was studying at UTA, and back then, who was Ms. Betty? She was um the supervisor at the time for the Family Center. She actually came and did a presentation at UTA. And I feel like it resonated with me. So before I chose the career, I was debating between nursing and social work. Okay. And then I was like, you know what, blood, it's not for me.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

You know that you just said, nope, that's not for me, right? That's not for me. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

And I was like, okay. And I was like, well, I feel like I can see myself in a social work position. So I would like to serve. You know, that was my that's what got me to social work.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:32

So when I listened to the presentation, it was good for me because I knew it was a Christian organization.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:40

I grew up in Christianity my whole life. I never been outside of it my whole life.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:45

So to me, that was a really strong point that I can be at a place that is Christian based and I feel bad about serving God.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Amen. Amen. So you have been a follower of Jesus Christ for most of your life, huh?

SPEAKER_03 3:00

My whole life.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Your whole life.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

So I came to actually accept God in my life at the age of eight. So, um, and that was very hard right there because I was an eight-year-old the next day after I accepted Jesus, I almost got killed.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

I I got poisoned by my dad's ex-girlfriend.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Okay, so at the age of eight, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I woke up the next day singing, reading my Bible, praying, and like it was really awesome for me, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

So then I went to go see my father, because uh at this time I'm back in Dominican Republic.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

So that's one thing I should say. I'm in Dominican Republic.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Okay, so that is Dominican Republic is where you were born? Yes. Okay, good. Okay. So you're back in Dominican Republic.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

I'm in Dominican Republic. So that's before I came to the US. And then I went to see my father, and then the girlfriend was there. Then she asked me to go to the store for her. She gave me some orange juice. By the time I got home, I was very dizzy. Almost got hit by an 18 wheeler on the way home.

unknown 4:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 4:01

And then I passed out.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

My mother, I remember repeating the prayers with my mom, though, when she got home. Or when she was home and and she told me to repeat after me. And she told me how I became hard as a rock. I was purple, and my voice sounded like somebody who was already dying.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Oh my goodness. So so you had a conversion experience at the age of eight where you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior. And the next day. And the very next day, the enemy tried to take you out. Yes. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

And that's the second time.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Okay, explain that. You can't just say that and let that fall. So that was the second time?

SPEAKER_03 4:40

The first time I was one.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

And I could not eat and drink. Anytime I went, like I could not. My I was in the hospital for a year back and forth between medicines until one day my mom said, God, I'm tired. Yeah. Either you take her or you heal her.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

And the next day I was healed.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

So your time uh from your your conversion at eight, then you how long did you spend recovering from that incident that were you reposed?

SPEAKER_03 5:08

I was in the hospital for three days. Wow. They said it was poison. They said that whatever I was given was to kill me instantly.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

And that it was a miracle that I was alive.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Yeah, you are welcome. Thank you for that testimony. What a joy it is that you carry this light that is in you. What is the word of God? Let your light so shine before men that they would see your good works and glorify your God which is in heaven. So God has brought you through this experience where you've been a follower of Jesus Christ since you were eight. And then as you've been you were introduced into social work, so you felt that God was calling you to serve. Is that accurate?

From Intern To Housing Director

SPEAKER_01 5:44

So you wanted to be a serious and so you started off at UGM as an intern.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

So I was an intern. So after my internship ended, three days before you ended, I was hired for UGM as a case manager helping the tutoring department back then in the enrichment program. So I used to do a lot of stuff back then also that what mission support does now used to be back some of the case managers back then used to do. So I used to do the enrichment, the bus runs, the room checks, and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

And then five years later, a position became open in the men's building. So I became a case manager for the men.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

And I was in that position for a while until I got my recent new position.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Okay. Well, tell us about that recent new position. So you stayed, you were a case manager for how many years?

SPEAKER_03 6:29

I would say 13 years.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

13 years you served as a case manager. Thank you for your service as a case manager. And then what happened after that?

SPEAKER_03 6:37

Well, I am now the director of men's housing.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Amen. That needs a that needs a drum roll or an applause. Director of men's housing. Well, Cindy is the director of men's housing currently at Union Gospel Mission.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

I

Intake Steps And Common Barriers

SPEAKER_03 6:51

work in a building full of men.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

So my goal is to supervise the case managers to make sure that they're well informed of resources and how we can help the resident become self-sufficient.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

And so we are able to house, just for our listening audience, about 228 men in that building. Explain to our audience what it is like having to work with men who have been unhoused.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

Well, I mean, the first part starts at intake. They'll go into our new welcome center and they'll fill out an application. If we have openings, they'll gotta sign a case manager. Then that first day or two, they'll work with a case manager to do some assessments to look at maybe, hey, do you need to get an evaluation completed or maybe you need to see the doctor? Whatever it is, we're gonna look at your barriers. Because currently we're housing focused. So I want to be sure that whatever we talk to the clients about, we're working on those goals. We're hitting that target. Yeah. Like what is it that you need so you can no longer be unhoused?

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah, good.

Teaching Men How To Ask

SPEAKER_01 7:50

So you've mentioned something and and jump right in, Eric. What would you say are some of those barriers?

SPEAKER_03 7:56

I think it's someone sometimes the criminal record.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

We have some people coming out of jail. We got people who maybe don't know how to ask for help. So when it comes to doing an assessment or coming in for intake, I just met with somebody today and he keeps telling me, This is my first time at a shelter and I don't know how to ask for help.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Sure. How do small groups help men overcome?

SPEAKER_03 8:19

I think it opens up their mentality, like their focus. Like sometimes, like I said before, like you're in a place where you feel like you never ask for help, but sometimes you need a different perspective. So I think small groups help them have a different perspective of what they're going through. And also makes them feel like they're not the only one going through the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

Like you have somebody with similar experiences and they've been through this. So let me help you let me guide you on how to get out of it.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

You know, you you uh have been on a very intimate journey with uh several of our neighbors, but you typically go the extra mile. I see that with you over and over again. It's your gift. And uh Eric, just for for you and for the listeners, we we had a family that uh I ran into who were unhoused and they were living on the streets, and now uh through Cindy's work, she's just not let go. You've been working with them for almost two years now. And what you said is a true narrative is that oftentimes our neighbors come to us and you know our listening audience may say, Well, why don't they just g get an apartment or why don't they just get a job? It's not always that easy. The barriers that oftentimes they can they're confronted with, uh, they may not actually have the skills to negotiate the conversation. What I'm hearing you say is the barriers oftentimes come from them not knowing what to ask or how to ask the right questions in that space. What are some of the tools and the uh skills that you give back to one of our neighbors to start prompting those conversations with them of how do they ask?

SPEAKER_03 10:01

I believe it depends on what they need, right? So if let's say it's medical, I said, okay, when you go into your appointment, then you need to try to ask these type of questions. Because if you don't know the if you don't ever ask, you don't know how to deal with it. So, or if you need your documents, like hey, what items can we look up to see what documents do you need to get your ID?

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_03 10:22

So we need to I prepare them usually by saying what are the kind of questions you should ask. So if you're going into a housing meeting, for example, let's say you end up getting a voucher.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

Okay, let's ask questions. So, how long is the voucher for? Do y'all help me find a place that's 30% of income? Can I have a felony?

unknown 10:41

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

I'm like, think of questions that's gonna help you at the end of the day and write them down. So don't you don't have to remind you don't have to remember them. You just have to write them down.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Absolutely. Absolutely. Uh our philosophy with regards to one being housing focused, we believe that the formula to being housing focused is also one size fits one. And with that as a baseline for us, we realize everyone's housing journey is different. And the expertise that Cindy brings to us is she is an expert in dig digging and navigating through those housing uh barriers that oftentimes so many of our neighbors come to. And without that support of an expert like Cindy and the rest of our case managers, we find so many of our neighbors stay unhoused because they do not know uh which door to open or which conversation to

When Housing Still Is Not Available

SPEAKER_01 11:32

start. And so we're so grateful to you and your expertise and what you bring here to Union Gospel Mission. What's been one of the most challenging scenarios that you say you've had to deal with or overcome with someone being housed?

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Well, I feel like uh probably about two or three years ago, actually three or four, I actually became the person that was helping with house. And we have somebody in place, this person became pregnant, and then we know she had to go and leave, so I had to learn how to do the house and stuff. So at some point I became the person at UGM basically that was doing all the housing assessments and everything like that. So when I do assessments, I don't just do assessments, I go through documentation. Yeah, I figure out how long have you been experiencing homelessness for? How long have let's say you've been staying on the streets and then I do all the documents, and then my goal when I do those things is to hopefully prove prognicity and get people housed. So I've seen people go through barriers that, hey, they've been chronic and they still can't get housing because there's no housing, or hey, you can't get housing because according to this, you have something on your record, or you can't get housing because unfortunately you don't meet this criteria, but they've been on EGM for a year, two years at the time back then, yeah, and they still can get housing. Yeah. So I seen people have medical issues and still don't get housing.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

So when I used to do those assessments, I used to put my heart into it. Of course. My goal was to get people housed.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Absolutely. That was my goal. Yeah, and you have done it exceptionally well. Uh so what we uh try to achieve here at Union Gospel Mission is being housing focused and move them through whatever narrative to get them to the place where they are actually housed and that they're living their forever journey. Hopefully, do not enter back. And and a lot of that starts right at the Welcome Center and then it transitions to our men's program, our women's program, or our family program.

Why More Young Adults Are Unhoused

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Why do you think, Cindy, we're seeing this surge of 18 to 24 year olds that are becoming unhoused?

SPEAKER_03 13:30

Well, in some of those I've seen um some of them are coming from foster care.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Okay. So these are young men and young women who are aging out of foster care. Yes. And when they age out, they typically don't have a place to go, right?

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Yes. Okay. Or I've seen some that maybe they were standing with grandparents and they got to a certain age, or maybe the ones who maybe unfortunately have some kind of learning disability or mental health. Okay. And maybe the parent doesn't know how to deal with it.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

So the parents feel like, oh, you know what, I need to send you out so you can learn how to grow up. Sure. Which I feel like growing up on Lancaster is not a place to send your kids.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Absolutely not. It's not. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

But since then, even when Job Corps closed, at that time we saw a really big influx of youth come in.

unknown 14:14

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Yeah, that is a that's an interesting scenario in our country as a whole. They say almost 25,000 youth because of the closing of job corps across the country found themselves not having that as an option, and we're seeing the incidence of 18 to 24 year olds becoming uh a part of our housing journey. And uh we we we are grateful that God has given us the vision. Now we have a specialized program for our eighteen to twenty-four-year-old youth, and we're so excited to be able to see that get launched here at Union Gospel Mission. So

What To Do When You Meet Someone

SPEAKER_01 14:48

if you're if we have someone who's listening and they run into one of our unhoused neighbors, what would you say to them if they are not in the space of working in our field of homelessness? They meet some man on a corner or they see someone with a sign, a family member, what would be the nuggets that you would give to them to help them get housed? What would you say to someone who's trying to work with someone because uh Cindy to to help them get further along their journey?

SPEAKER_03 15:17

I would just say bring them to the welcome center. Yeah. Or even call UGM. Ask, hey, what services do y'all provide? Yeah. How do can we get them there? Yeah. All you have to do is walk in. You don't have to wait in line, you don't have to we even have overnight services. So let's say you find this person at QT at 6 p.m. at night, five p.m. at night, call UGM. That's all you have to do, just one phone call and say, Hey, I've met this person, he's in need of services. What can I do?

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

And that's the question. What can I do?

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Absolutely. So let's give them some information what they would do. So first, if you are seeking to get some assistance for yourself or you're seeking to provide assistance for someone else, you can go to UGM-tc.org and there is a link there that they can apply. That would be an opportunity for someone to get engaged, uh, to fill out information. Also, uh, you can uh email at uh uh infougm.tc.org. You can email us and one of our team members will be more than happy to get you connected. Uh there's also uh the Welcome Center, certainly you can come Monday through Friday, nine to five o'clock. If someone's not there, there's a QR code outside the door that can really work you through all of the logistics to be able to get them housed. So if

Affordable Housing Plus Wraparound Care

SPEAKER_01 16:37

you had a magic wand, uh what would that wand accomplish with regards to being able to solve homelessness?

SPEAKER_03 16:44

I will build more apartment complexes. I feel like we need more that have like the 30% of income, 40% or 50. Okay. Because some more outhouse neighbors are on SSI.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

We don't there's not enough housing.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:58

And right now with everything, even some permanent housing programs have closed. Yeah. So they have to move people around. Yeah. So I feel like if we're gonna aim homelessness, we need some other apartments, but we wrap around services.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:11

So this will be more like having a case measure, possibly. Maybe to do a check-in once a month for mental health. Yeah. Or check on you to say, hey, how are you doing recovery? Or if you need something, just step in and say, Hey, I just want to talk, right?

unknown 17:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

So I'm going to echo that it's spot on. We need more affordable housing for our neighbors. And the affordable housing has to also be accompanied with wraparound services to be able to walk them through because it's not just getting them housed and putting them in a place, it's also walking with them during their journeys of trying to find solutions to meeting paying bills, making their medical appointments, getting to their physicians to uh if they're having cycles of addiction, also to be able to get them the services that they need. And so we're so grateful, one, that UGM exists and there's a place that they can come and call. We are in our 138th year providing services to this community, and we have had the great pleasure of having amazing team members, our mission makers like you, Cindy. Thank you so much for your commitment and your legacy of all the great things you've been doing here at UGM. It is our prayer that if there's anyone who's unhoused in our neighborhood and they'd be listening to this podcast, or if you are the family or a friend of someone uh who is unhoused, please reach out to us. You can go again to UGM-TC.org and you can apply there online. We would be more than happy to get you connected. Or if you run to someone on a street corner, send them to the Welcome Center at Union Union Gospel Mission because it is our philosophy at UGM, at our welcome center, uh, to make people feel seen, loved, and heard, hear us now as our podcast. Eric,

Fighting Isolation And Final Blessing

SPEAKER_01 18:58

closing thoughts or comments that you want to make as we end our time together today with Cindy Aiken.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

I wrote down the word isolation, and you just hit it uh with the theme of our our podcast here. It's a space. Yeah. While the world rushes past the soul, it's a quiet space. And so we're fighting isolation. There are people who are unhoused who are fighting isolation. There are people who are housed, yeah, and they're fighting isolation. But Jesus has been at work. We look at uh Cindy's testimony. Some poison tried to isolate her real bad a long time ago, and God has been working, and the finger of God is still at work. Amen. If you agree with Jesus, let him write his law on your heart and in your mind.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Amen. Amen. In Jesus' name. So God bless you. Thank you so much again for being with us. Until next time. All right, we're glad you have.