As part of an agreement to settle the suit, Costa Mesa committed to providing enough beds to serve 60% of the 103 unsheltered homeless people counted in the city during a 2017 countywide homeless census. (949) 548-5546 Costa Mesa settled the federal lawsuit brought by the nonprofit group Orange County Catholic Worker and seven homeless individuals and as a result was directed by a district court judge to provide 62 shelter beds. Clients are required to make a reservation to stay there and must meet with a case manager at least once a week. Mercy House, a nonprofit that operates homeless and housing programs in Orange County, will manage services. Costa Mesa is leading the way with a successful shelter model that helps those experiencing homelessness find housing, Mayor Katrina Foley said in a statement. The idea for the switch is inspired by the CAHOOTS model launched in Eugene, Oregon, which Brooke Weitzman, co-founder and directing attorney of the Elder Law Disability Rights Center, said has been significantly more successful in getting people the help they need. For more information on the city's efforts and to provide feedback contact Public Information Officer Tony Dodero at (714) 754-5288 or via email at citynews@costamesaca.gov. Lighthouse provides a wide range of trauma-informed services to help young people and families heal and grow. (714) 751-1101 About Voice of OC: Mission | Editorial Policies| Contact Us | Funding| Privacy Policy. Get connected to the services you need when you need them, Be the somebody. Weitzman, an attorney in the 2018 Catholic Worker case against the county, said when the lawsuits started, homeless people were being criminalized and cycling in and out of jail. Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC Reporting Fellow. History of Addressing Homelessness in Costa Mesa The latest countywide homeless count, which took place in January, documented 187 unsheltered people in Costa Mesa. The creation of Costa Mesas shelter is a result of a lawsuit filed against the County of Orange, and the cities of Anaheim, Orange and Costa Mesa in 2018 over the removal of homeless people from the Santa Ana riverbed. Foley said the shelter effort proves that if theres a will, theres a way., It was definitely long overdue in our community, she said. When the cities all realized, hey, we cant make this problem disappear through policing. They really all took kind of a hard look at what they can do and most started with emergency shelters.. Irvine, CA - 92612 Costa Mesa Bridge Shelter Ribbon Cutting 3-23-21 - YouTube Nonprofit Mercy House, which also operates the county-owned Bridges at Kraemer Place shelter in Anaheim, is running the Costa Mesa shelter. Cities like Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Anaheim, Buena Park , Fullerton and Santa Ana are moving or considering moving away from using police officers as homeless responders and instead discussing using social workers to address calls on mental health and homelessness. Non Profit Organization that provides housing assistance, 4343 Von Karman Ave Ste 200 Foley also briefly shared with the crowd of about 50 people that her own dysfunctional childhood frequently included moving among the homes of neighbors and friends to escape what she described as an abusive household. That history, she said, is something that influences her public life. From [], Stanbridge College REACH Beyond the Classroom invites you to volunteer to help feed the homeless this Saturday, February 15th, in Costa Mesa. On Wednesday night less than three months after that unanimous vote eight people had a roof over their heads. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window). Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with alternating Fridays closed. The other cities also settled, opening emergency shelters of their own or planning to provide beds through other shelters. Her crew had outfitted the place with some homey touches potted flowers on dining hall tables; designs on the walls; sheets, comforters and carefully folded towel sets on the dorm beds (four to each semi-private pod). Leaders from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach the cities that built the shelter said as much during a ribbon cutting and early preview tour on Tuesday, March 23. Seventy-four percent of the chronic homeless were male while 31 percent reported mental issues, and 63 percent report alcohol abuse. Those effectively have been on hold for about a year because of a federal lawsuit filed in January 2018 on behalf of homeless people cleared from a former encampment along the Santa Ana River and a subsequent ruling from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that it is unconstitutional to prosecute homeless people for sleeping on public property when they dont have access to shelter. Guided Assistance to Permanent Placement housing program. Other funding includes a $300,000 contribution from Hoag Hospital and a $2.5 million homelessness grant awarded by the county. Amid all the commotion, a few of the shelters first clients relaxed in the multipurpose room. Through the citys efforts, people who landed on the streets after they were unsuccessful in Costa Mesas sober living homes now have plane tickets to rejoin family in other states, Foley said, and one homeless woman was able to shower for the first time in two months. Did you know that volunteer activity increases during the holiday season, but decreases after December? She called the shelter perhaps the most rewarding project shes worked on. Bunk beds sit in a modular trailer at Costa Mesas new homeless shelter at 1885 Anaheim Ave. in the citys Westside. Keep up the compassion in 2014 and join [], Stanbridge College REACH Beyond the Classroom invites you to volunteer to help the homeless on Saturday, October 26th in Costa Mesa. Acting as a triage between homelessness and housing, the 70-bed Bridge Shelter provides interim housing coupled with wrap-around services to support guests on their journey to securing a permanent housing option. Some 600 volunteers have signed up to help, she said. Volunteers will be able to prepare food, set up the dining hall, serve meals and give a little bit of hope and care to someone in [], Stanbridge College invites you to participate in our January Suitcase Drive benefiting the homeless of Orange County. Besides government and policy, she's interested in animals both wild and domestic, people who try to make the world better, and how things work. Non Profit Organization that provides housing assistance, 18012 Mitchell Ave S July 28, 2022. The reason we were able to move forward so efficiently is because we had the political will, with the full council working together, Mayor Katrina Foley said Thursday. CLICK HERE to learn more about how to volunteer with Brackens Kitchen. Contact him @helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam. Many times in Orange County and nationally, folks who are unhoused especially folks who are unhoused and also have a mental health condition often end up dead in police encounters, Weitzman said in a phone interview Thursday. Costa Mesa opens short-term homeless shelter for 50 people The newly completed homeless shelter in Costa Mesa resides in a typical boxy, warehouse-type structure, similar to all the other buildings on a street named Airway Avenue because it parallels a runway at John Wayne Airport. The Lighthouse Church "bridge shelter," as city leaders call it,. Avery recalled how some residents shouted out the cruel suggestion to just round them up and take them to the desert., It was a dark time, he told the crowd. The changes are aimed at ensuring that the city's anti-camping laws are not only enforceable in the long term, but work in conjunction with the temporary 50-bed homeless shelter scheduled to . The 72-bed homeless shelter will see its first clients in early April. Verify your business to immediately update business information, track page views, and more! Non Profit Organization that provides housing assistance. How are you going to protect these homeless folks?. Members of the public said the goal to house the citys homeless population is great but the location for the shelter is wrong with other sites better suited. Religious Christian Partially liquidated State / local level Tax deductible donations No full-time employees General information Address 1885 Anaheim Ave Costa Mesa, CA 92627 Metro area Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA County Orange County, CA Phone (714) 267-1175 IRS details EIN 86-1141695 Fiscal year end June Taxreturn type Form 990-EZ THE LIGHTHOUSE - 1885 Anaheim Ave, Costa Mesa, CA - Yelp Homeless people, she said, will be helped by the shelter and city residents will be helped by being able to regain the use of public spaces, such as parks. The regional board denied all of the appeals. The facility officially opens Friday. The city and the church and the community have to look at homelessness as an entire community challenge, and the city has resources that the church doesnt have, he said. The 72-bed homeless shelter will see its first clients in early April. The shelter will be built at a city owned industrial warehouse located at 3175 Airway Ave., near John Wayne Airport. As we move into the autumn and winter months, more and more shelters become over-crowded and many homeless people and families are left out in the cold without food or protection from the [] The lowest point in my time on the council has been over this issue.. Costa Mesa City Council unanimously approved a $2 million a year contract with Mercy House Living Centers to operate their new homeless shelter for a three-year term starting next month. People have been used to walking in and out of here for years, so we do expect that theres going to be a learning curve and we expect that to be a couple of weeks, Martin said. A client sits in the multipurpose room at Costa Mesas homeless shelter at Lighthouse Church of the Nazarene at 1885 Anaheim Ave. in the citys Westside. Literally theres been 20 to 30 city staff here for 16 hours a day to make this happen, he said during a tour of the shelter with the Daily Pilot on Wednesday. Nearby was a whiteboard with a simple written message: Welcome to the Costa Mesa Bridge Shelter.. The next step, she added, is the more crucial move of finding people permanent housing. The March 2019 settlement prohibits the cities from enforcing anti-camping and loitering laws if there isnt an appropriate bed available for the homeless individual, Weitzman told the Voice of OC through a text message. According to the Orange County Nutrition and Food Insecurity Profile of the California Food Policy Advocates, 33.7% of low-income households experience hunger at least once a day. Please enable JavaScript in your browser for a better user experience. Call for prices. Luke Money is a Metro reporter covering breaking news at the Los Angeles Times. Children, youth and families served each year. Cities that have made plans to address the issue in their community have been released from the lawsuit.