The Bridge Shelter shared by Costa Mesa and Newport Beach will be expanding to help more people transition from living on the streets to permanent housing.

The Costa Mesa City Council has approved adding 16 more beds to the presently 72-bed shelter. Costa Mesa is asking Newport Beach leaders to step up the city’s $1 million annual contribution, which gives it access to some of the beds, by $257,000 a year, in addition to a one-time payment of $50,000 for the shelter enlargement plan.

Contracts for Bracken’s Kitchen, which provides three meals a day to clients, and Mercy House, the nonprofit that operates the shelter day-by-day and provides programs, transportation and security for clients, will also be increased.

The Costa Mesa council agreed to budget $4 million for the overall project.

The shelter opened in 2021; the two cities had agreed to share in the project’s cost as both grappled with a growing homeless population. Because Costa Mesa has a shelter, officials said the city is now able to enforce its anti-camping laws.

Shelter officials report that interest has been high for its beds and, in the last year, it’s been at maximum capacity with a waitlist of at least 30 people.

The Newport Beach City Council is expected to consider increasing the city’s contribution toward the joint project at its meeting Tuesday.

“The increase in capacity is significant,” Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens said, adding that he thinks the collaboration between the cities has been “excellent.”

“Our objective is to have nobody on the waitlist, and everyone who wants to has an opportunity to get into the shelter,” he said. “With the agreement, if we don’t use all our beds, Newport can use them.”

Currently, 20 of the 72 beds are set aside for people coming from Newport Beach, 49 beds are allocated for Costa Mesa and three are reserved for use in an emergent situation. With the expansion, Newport Beach would get another five beds and have an opportunity to use “flex” beds for emergencies.

Newport Beach Mayor Noah Blom said getting the extra five beds – and having an opportunity for flex beds that can be rented by the day – should help the city and its goal to reduce homelessness.

“It’s extremely important,” Blom said.

The next hurdle is the lack of housing capacity for people getting out of the shelter, the two mayors said.

“What we’re finding, as we talk to every city, is we have the ability to get people off the street, but we’re bottlenecked because the state is backlogged for using the housing vouchers,” he said. “They’re in there for 12 to 18 months, and it’s a mess.”

Newport Beach, he said, is doing its best to help move the process forward and has the city’s liaison working with Mercy House to get people ready to move on to permanent housing, which includes things like getting a driver’s license and other legal paperwork.

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“It’s a misnomer that people want to stay in the shelter,” he said. “The reason beds don’t turn over is because people are still going through the process.”

Stephens agreed that the process of getting people into permanent housing can hit some snags but also points to the lack of available housing as a major factor.

“To place someone in housing, you need housing; there’s not enough of these places,” he said.

The Costa Mesa council also recently approved a plan to create 76 more affordable units by converting a former Travel Lodge on Bristol Street. The city is being assisted by Project Homekey, a state program that provides local governments with funds to purchase and rehabilitate hotels, motels, vacant apartment buildings and other properties that can be transformed into permanent, long-term housing.

A conversion of a Motel 6 on Newport Boulevard will create homes for veterans and seniors, and a third housing project is being negotiated with Jamboree Housing. It will be on city property next to the senior center.

When all three are finished, Costa Mesa will have 223 additional affordable, long-term housing units.

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