"Costa Mesa is leading the way with a . Foley said the shelter effort proves that if theres a will, theres a way., It was definitely long overdue in our community, she said. 1662 Newport Blvd. At least 50 people with Costa Mesa ties have already shown interest in entering the shelter, he said. All hinted at huge expectations. Can we do something like this?. 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. 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 72-bed homeless shelter will see its first clients in early April. Call for prices. The 72-bed shelter at 3175 Airway Ave. was built inside a warehouse purchased by the city in March 2019 and retrofitted into a 12,285-square-foot space with an intake area, offices, fully. 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. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with alternating Fridays closed. Federal District Court Judge David Carter directed Costa Mesa to provide 62 shelter beds, 60 percent of the citys 2017 homeless count. Officials are looking for a new spot. Costa Mesa, CA - 92626 The Airway site was not designed for human residential habitation. The 2019 Point in Time Count, a federal mandated annual count of homeless people in a community, found 193 homeless people living in Costa Mesa with 187 people unsheltered, 1,202 in Anaheim with 694 unsheltered and 341 in Orange with 193 people unsheltered. Its morally irresponsible to continue to allow people to live on the streets and the sidewalks and in the parks and not care for our community, she said. 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 shelters purpose and design took shape with input from residents and neighboring businesses, a process that was at times contentious. But, Harrison said, the journey led to an absolutely breathtaking space created inside an outwardly nondescript building. The plan now is for the Lighthouse shelter to operate for roughly a year before moving to a longer-term location somewhere else in the city. The bridge shelter as the city calls it consists of a modular trailer containing the 50 beds, as well as portable restrooms and showers in the parking lot of Lighthouse Church at 1885 Anaheim Ave. Helping young people & families heal and reach their full potential since 1969. Costa Mesa Bridge Shelter Ribbon Cutting 3-23-21 297 views Mar 25, 2021 4 Dislike Share Save City of Costa Mesa 1.14K subscribers The Cities of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach join with. 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). According to the County of Orange, an individual earning minimum wage has to work 124 hours a week just to afford a one-bedroom apartment in Orange County. Leased space in the church building includes offices for staff from the city and Mercy House Living Centers the Santa Ana-based nonprofit retained to run the shelter as well as a multipurpose room where clients will be able to congregate, eat, read and meet with service providers. 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. Brackens Kitchen is the current operator of the commercial kitchen at the Costa Mesa Bridge Shelter preparing and serving meals to shelter residents at the shelter. Share & Bookmark, Press Enter to show all options, press Tab go to next option, Rental Assistance / Asistencia De Alquiler, 2021-2022 City Council Goals and Objectives, Housing and Public Service Grants Committee, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) and other financial reports, Disclosure (Campaign Statements, Conflict of Interest Statements), Legal Fees, Settlements, and Litigation Status, Risk Management/Workers' Compensation Claims, Costa Mesa's Business Assistance Collaborative (BAC), Knowledge and Health Fair Expo Registration, July 4th & Labor Day Block Party and Street Closure Requests, Look Up Road Conditions On Interactive Map, to learn more about how to volunteer with Brackens Kitchen. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Just under $40 million sought for Newport Coast home with expansive views, Daily Pilot e-newspaper: Saturday, March 4, 2023, County renews grant pursuing sentence reductions in some homicide cases over protest from district attorney, Man accepts plea deal for DUI in Huntington Beach that killed friend, sentenced to 4 years, City Council preview: Laguna Beach to consider deal with Be Well OC for mental health services, OCC program helps students learn the lost art of job seeking, Daily Pilot e-newspaper: Friday, March 3, 2023, Orange Countys COVID-19 metrics remain flat; 177 hospitalized as of Wednesday, Laguna Beach reports $17-million budget surplus in update. The Lighthouse Church bridge shelter, as city leaders call it, provides an interim space for homeless people while the city works to establish a permanent shelter at 3175 Airway Ave. Mercy House will operate the long-term shelter, which is expected to open by mid-2020. 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. THE LIGHTHOUSE - 1885 Anaheim Ave, Costa Mesa, CA - Yelp The Lighthouse Unclaimed Churches Edit Closed 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM See hours Write a review Add photo Is this your business? Whether its therapy, residential treatment, foster care, emergency shelter, or housing, every young person receives personalized care and unconditional support to thrive. With this arrangement, I really believe that we have a great opportunity to effectively change the pattern in some of these peoples lives.. Alicia Robinson covers cities and local government for the Orange County Register. 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. The regional board denied all of the appeals. The shelter also boasts a stainless steel commercial-grade kitchen, outfitted with a walk-in refrigerator and freezer, and something called a tilt skillet that will allow kitchen manager Bill Nelson to easily steam 50 pounds of vegetables at a time or cook up 50 gallons of marinara sauce. Search for jobs related to Lighthouse homeless shelter costa mesa or hire on the world's largest freelancing marketplace with 21m+ jobs. Government Departments and Divisions City Manager's Office Network for Homeless Solutions. 2607 Willo Lane The city settled the riverbed lawsuit last month. Assistant Manager Muriel Ullman with Fresh Beginnings, cleans the kitchen at the Costa Mesa Bridge Shelter, during a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 in Costa Mesa, CA. Team members from Mercy House Living Centers the nonprofit operator of Costa Mesas homeless shelter meet Wednesday. We provide inclusive and affirming care for all young people, and every young person and family are treated with dignity and respect. 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. Stanbridge College REACH - Beyond the Classroom invites you to volunteer to help the homeless on Saturday, October 26th in Costa Mesa. Just as vital, however, has been buy-in from civic leaders and residents at large. Lighthouse Ministries is set apart by the Spirit of God to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to meet the physical, emotional, and other needs of the poor and at-risk population. Thats how many clients were already checked into the new 50-bed shelter when it officially opened Friday, April 5, on the grounds of Lighthouse Church of the Nazarene, city officials said. © Copyright 2007 - 2023. Costa Mesa has to zone for 11,760 new homes of which over 4,700 have to be very low income to low income homes. Contact him @helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam. 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. Martin said that model likely will take time to get used to. At least 20 more people are off the streets and under a roof since Costa Mesa became the latest Orange County city to create an emergency shelter to address the regions homeless crisis. The Costa Mesa City Council voted unanimously early Wednesday to adopt plans to build the shelter to serve the city and authorized a $3.7 million contract with Cerritos-based Cal-City Construction Inc., for the project. 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. Its been a tremendous, tremendous, tremendous undertaking, said Parks and Community Services Director Justin Martin, who has been leading the shelter effort. Our services include residential programs, feeding and sheltering the homeless, and outreach centers within our thrift stores to assist low-income and at-risk . Amid all the commotion, a few of the shelters first clients relaxed in the multipurpose room. About Voice of OC: Mission | Editorial Policies| Contact Us | Funding| Privacy Policy. Costa Mesa officials have said opening the shelter also will enable the city to resume enforcing local anti-camping laws. (949) 548-5546 Stanbridge College REACH is looking for compassionate volunteers to help provide the homeless of Orange County with change that they could really use. Our students, faculty, and staff participated in several long-standing holiday traditions, including collecting gifts for children in need with the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation, and donations of food and supplies for homeless animals through a partnership with the Irvine Pet Complex. Having a different set of outreach, a different process, a different intake, a different entity in each city as we try and develop a cohesive model without the county stepping in a leadership role to have some sort of county wide healthcare led approach is bound to lead to some trouble, she said. She has also reported at the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, the Daily Pilot in Costa Mesa, and at small daily and weekly papers in the midwest, before she became an honorary Californian based on hours spent in traffic. Starting January 16th and for two weeks after, we will be collecting new or used suitcases, duffel bags, tote bags and new plastic garbage bags. 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. The frustration started after the state tasked the Southern California Association of Governments made up of city council members across the region to come up with zoning for 1.3 million homes across six counties, including more than 180,000 in Orange County by October 2029. Newport Beach, grappling with rising tensions between homeless street people and city residents, decided late last year to kick in $1.6 million toward the building, along with a five-year commitment of $1 million in annual operating costs. 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. Some noted the difficulty of building the project. Guided Assistance to Permanent Placement housing program. In exchange, the city gets use of 20 beds. Six other people will go through the intake process for permanent housing within the next month, said Larry Haynes, executive director of Mercy House Living Centers, the nonprofit that operates the shelter. Verify your business to immediately update business information, track page views, and more! The system starts with outreach on the streets to get people into the shelters, where operators can help them get into a home. The hope is to be able to keep them here and move them directly from here to housing as quickly as possible, said Patti Long, Mercy Houses associate director. Almost always the reason that there is difficulty with housing placement is a lack of available housing, in particular housing that is affordable and appropriate for people coming out of our shelter system, Haynes said. The assessment determined that there were at least 120 people sleeping on the streets of Costa Mesa during any given evening. 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. Other funding includes a $300,000 contribution from Hoag Hospital and a $2.5 million homelessness grant awarded by the county. 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. We had leadership willing to take the risk and we had the community engagement and transparency about the process that allowed the community to embrace this. Join the conversation:In lieu of comments, we encourage readers to engage with us across a variety of mediums. All rights reserved. Mercy House is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the facility including the provision of services related to locating, securing and maintaining permanent housing; identifying and mitigating barriers to housing and employment; referrals to third-party services and resources; providing extracurricular activities and modes of entertainment for shelter guests; overseeing security in and around the facility; as well as facilitating the transportation of guests to and from the shelter. The creation of the 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. Since 2019, Costa Mesa temporarily used the Lighthouse Church of the Nazarene to provide beds until their permanent shelter opened earlier this year. Yet there is a lack of affordable housing in the county, they say. The shelters name is not designated on the outside, just the street-facing address 3175 B painted in the same bluish grey trim that tops the one-story, white washed building. Mercy House operated the temporary shelter under a $1,457,000 a year contract. 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. 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 [] Over 75,000 of those units have to be very low income to low income homes. 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. Shelter residents must be referred by outreach teams from at least one of the two cities or the countys Health Care Agency. On Wednesday night less than three months after that unanimous vote eight people had a roof over their heads. Message usvia ourwebsite or staff page. The new shelter is the result of a partnership between the two neighboring cities. Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC Reporting Fellow. Six additional clients will be opening the door to a new home and a new future by late October. Get connected to the services you need when you need them, Be the somebody. 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 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. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG), Towels and toiletries lie on a bed at the Costa Mesa Bridge Shelter during a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 in Costa Mesa, CA. The shelter will be able to accommodate 70 beds when it opens, according to city staff. For more information, please call (714) 836-7188. The point of a shelter is to get them to the next step of housing, Haynes said in a phone interview Thursday. If you are [], Volunteer to Help Feed Orange Countys Homeless with Stanbridge College REACH, Volunteer and Give Groceries to Orange Countys Homeless, Keep Up The Compassion And Volunteer To Help Feed The Homeless With Stanbridge College REACH, Feed a Soul and Fill a Heart: Volunteer 10/26 to Help the Homeless, Students Stand Against Hunger at Stanbridge College, Give the Homeless Change They Can Use: Serving the Homeless at Lighthouse Ministries 2-25-12, Stanbridge College Helps Carry the Weight: Over 25 OC Homeless Receive Donations of Suitcases, Be the Change: Help Serve a Meal to the Homeless of Orange County 1/28, Stanbridge College Suitcase Drive for the Homeless Starts January 16th. Had all the developments been done equally, we would have probably had plenty of housing but we did substantially more than needed in above moderate (income homes) for most cities and substantially less than needed in very low and extremely low (income homes), Weitzman said. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG), Officials gathered for a ribbon cutting at the Costa Mesa Bridge Shelter on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 in Costa Mesa, CA. Types of Shelters and Services we provide. The goal had been to have a shelter of our own but the problem is we needed a little prodding to actually get it done although over the years there were several proposals.. Those who havent taken steps to provide emergency shelter could be barred from enforcing rules against camping in public. Every young person seeking help is welcome. She was a reporter and editor at the San Bernardino Sun from 1986 to 1992. The first homeless people to move in will be about 20 individuals transitioning from Costa Mesas 50-bed temporary shelter at Lighthouse Church of the Nazarene that the city began operating just shy of two years ago. However, the idea of using social workers to respond to homeless and mental health calls has not been formally discussed by Costa Mesa council members. 949-646-2271 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. Were already seeing positive results from opening the shelter, Mayor Katrina Foley said, including chronically homeless people who had been seen on city streets for years getting moved into the shelter, recuperative medical care or other housing with support services. Mercy House, a nonprofit that operates homeless and housing programs in Orange County, will manage services. Nonprofit Mercy House, which also operates the county-owned Bridges at Kraemer Place shelter in Anaheim, is running the Costa Mesa shelter. The proof is that we dont have a lot of affordable housing and certainly permanent supportive housing in our city so we have a long way to go, he said. Costa Mesa, CA - 92626 Please enable JavaScript in your browser for a better user experience. Haynes said all of the 50 beds are filled nearly every night. July 28, 2022. 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Many cities throughout the county, and even the state, are looking to Costa Mesa for advice on how to address the root causes of homelessness while enforcing their anti-camping ordinances.. Children, youth and families served each year. Costa Mesas shelter is modeled after Bridges at Kraemer Place in Anaheim, another facility Mercy House operates. 949-852-0700 A worker prepares to install washers and dryers at Costa Mesas new homeless shelter Wednesday. 151 Kalmus, Ste H-2 Irvine, CA - 92614 The operators have also been able to keep residents at the shelter free of Covid since the start of the pandemic by moving vulnerable people to motels, Stephens, the Costa Mesa mayor, said. Government Departments and Divisions City Manager's Office Network for Homeless Solutions. Non Profit Organization that provides housing assistance, 4343 Von Karman Ave Ste 200 (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG), Costa Mesa City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison speaks during a dedication ceremony for a navigation Center in Costa Mesa, CA on Tuesday, March 23, 2021. 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. In many of these cities, you need to go through a police officer to get into a homeless shelter. Send us asecure tip. The latest countywide homeless count, which took place in January, documented 187 unsheltered people in Costa Mesa. With the official opening fast approaching, the shelter site was bustling Wednesday as workers put the finishing touches on the space. Since it opened at the beginning of April, the shelter located for now at Lighthouse Church of the Nazarene at 1885 Anaheim Ave. has provided nearly 1,500 different services, according to the city report. He asked that the new bridge shelter partnership be so successful that other cities will think, My, oh my! Every fourth Saturday of the month, the Free Pantry Organization provides over 8,500 lbs of free groceries and fresh food as a healthy food alternative to those []. People whove been living on the streets are scheduled to start arriving at the new shelter in May. About Voice of OC: Mission | Editorial Policies| Contact Us | Funding| Privacy Policy. Listing Location: 2.57 miles from Costa Mesa Before we had something like this, we really didnt have an option for our emergency personnel, police officers and fire department to really handle situations like this and now we have that, said Councilman Loren Gameros at Tuesdays meeting. . Did you know that volunteer activity increases during the holiday season, but decreases after December? County residents have identified housing and homelessness as the most important issues, according to the 2020 Orange County Annual Survey conducted by Chapman University. We have this opportunity to not only clean up and restore an area of our community but also to save peoples lives., Councilwoman Arlis Reynolds who represents District 5, where the shelter is located said she too believes the facility will be a key component of the citys efforts to improve the wider Westside and that shes very optimistic for the path forward.. The decision comes as cities across Orange County are rethinking their approach to the homelessness crisis. This is not free. The facility opened in April. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with alternating Fridays closed. This is why supporting our communitys homeless population is important year-round. She has a communications degree from Cal State Dominguez Hills. 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. Both Mercy House and city staff, I think were all very proud of the housing rates so far, Haynes said. Stephens added an inclusionary housing ordinance could help and said its expected to be on a city council agenda in the fall. The numbers speak for themselves, City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison said in a statement. Listing Location: 3.36 miles from Costa Mesa (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG), Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley speaks during a dedication ceremony for a navigation Center in Costa Mesa, CA on Tuesday, March 23, 2021. 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 city will end up spending millions to make it somewhat habitable, said the first person to make a public comment.