Daily Pilot
Thanks to a $750,000 allocation from a state lawmaker, Costa Mesa will soon be add 15 more behavioral health beds at its bridge shelter, doubling its capacity to serve individuals with mental health and substance abuse issues.
City officials announced last week Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine) had earmarked funds in the state’s 2025-26 budget to help grow the behavioral healthcare program at the Airway Avenue facility, from 15 dedicated beds to 30.
“This expansion of services fills the gap needed to effectively transition people with mental health and addiction issues off the streets and into permanent housing through the city’s Bridge Shelter,” Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens stated in a July 10 news release.
The city’s bridge shelter opened in March 2021 with 69 daily resident beds for men and women and three more beds that could be used during emergency intake situations. The city of Newport Beach, through a memorandum of understanding, agreed to pay $1.6 million toward the construction of the shelter, along with another $1 million for access to up to 20 beds across a five-year period.
Today, the facility serves about 200 people annually and has helped hundreds secure permanent housing.
Hoping to increase the reach of the shelter, Costa Mesa officials in 2024 partnered with the Orange County Health Care Agency to create a space for 15 behavioral health beds at the shelter, taking in $4.2 million in Behavioral Health Bridge Housing funds to pay for the addition. Newport Beach requested access to five of the 15 beds, increasing its annual payment to the city to $1.275 million.
The need at the time was dire — about 33% of Orange County’s homeless population at that time were estimated to have substance abuse issues, while roughly 30% had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder.
One year into the program, the Costa Mesa shelter has served 53 individuals with behavioral health care services, nine of whom went on to secure permanent housing, city officials reported in the release.
Petrie-Norris said the investment helps take care of the county’s most vulnerable neighbors and seeks to make sure no one falls through the cracks.
“By expanding behavioral health services at the Costa Mesa Bridge Shelter, we’re helping people facing serious mental health and substance use challenges get the support they need to heal, rebuild, and find a path to stable housing,” she said in a statement.
“I’m grateful to the [city] for its leadership and proud to help bring these critical state resources to our community.”
Behavioral health clients served on site have access to a dedicated case manager and an OCHCA clinician who can assess and refer residents to county services as well as licensed in-patient detox facilities and out-patient residential rehabilitation programs.