Irvine has arranged for people in the city without a place to sleep to have a bed at Costa Mesa’s Bridge Shelter under a temporary new partnership between the two cities.
The Costa Mesa City Council unanimously approved an agreement this week that gives Irvine access to a majority of the beds at the homeless shelter, as available. Each bed costs $163 per day, and Irvine will make monthly payments to Costa Mesa based on the previous month’s bed usage.
Currently, Newport Beach has exclusive access to 20 of the 100 beds at the Bridge Shelter. The new agreement gives Irvine access to Costa Mesa’s 80-bed allotment.
The contract runs through the end of the fiscal year, June 30, after which the city expects to hash out a longer-term agreement with Irvine that would give its residents exclusive access to a portion of the beds.
Costa Mesa’s agreement with Irvine came about as Newport Beach decided in December to phase out of its commitments at Bridge Shelter. Newport Beach will forfeit exclusive use of the 20 beds on June 30. Starting in 2027, the city will no longer have access to any beds at the facility.
Newport Beach City Manager Seimone Jurjis said the city would have preferred to extend its partnership with Costa Mesa until the end of year, but Costa Mesa wanted a longer-term commitment.
“Since Newport Beach had a shorter time horizon, Costa Mesa preferred to end the partnership in June 2026 to give them an opportunity to partner with another agency that would have given them a longer term beyond 2026,” he said.
Seimone said the city is exploring shelter options with Huntington Beach.
Costa Mesa officials say the partnership with Irvine will help increase the occupancy rate and offset operational costs to run the shelter. Costa Mesa has used an average of 52 beds per day over the past two months, resulting in a vacancy rate of 28 beds per day, according to data city staff presented to the council this week.
Irvine will be responsible for making its own referrals to the shelter; individuals with outstanding warrants or arson or sexual abuse convictions will not be permitted to use the beds.
Allowing Irvine access to available beds could provide a “continuous revenue stream” for the shelter, city staff said. Should Irvine use just five beds every day over the next three months, it would bring $73,350 to Costa Mesa, the city officials estimated.
Nate Robbins, the city’s neighborhood improvement manager, told the council that the vacancy rate at Bridge Shelter can be attributed to an improvement in Costa Mesa’s systems of care and its efforts to move people into permanent housing. Nearly 500 people have been housed since the city opened up a temporary shelter at Lighthouse Church in 2019, Robbins said. The Bridge Shelter opened in 2021.
Another major factor is the passage of Proposition 36 in November 2024, which creates harsher penalties for possession of drugs that had been decriminalized. Many “hardcore drug users” who were homeless are now serving prison sentences, Robbins said.
“They’re either locked up, or we’re getting people housed,” he said. “So we’re just seeing a decrease in activity on the streets.”