Newport Beach has formed a partnership with Huntington Beach that city officials said will allow them to “right-size shelter needs” while still providing beds and social services to people in Newport Beach who continue to experience homelessness.
In the newly formed partnership, which launches in August, Newport Beach will rent 10 beds at the Huntington Beach Navigation Center. The agreement will cost Newport Beach $44,100 montly, plus a one-time $9,000 conversion fee, for a vehicle to be used by a part-time social worker who is also part of the new contract. It will cost the city $529,200 annually.
If Newport Beach decides it needs more beds in the shelter that is on Beach Boulevard, and they are unused by Huntington Beach, they can be had for $132 a night.
The city spent about $5.5 million over the last six years to have access to Costa Mesa’s Bridge Shelter near John Wayne Airport.
While Newport Beach officials had hoped to continue that partnership with Costa Mesa until the end of 2026, the city’s needs for beds have dwindled and Costa Mesa asked to end the contract by June 30 so it could identify another partner city, Newport Beach City Manager Seimone Jurjis said. Costa Mesa has since entered into an agreement with Irvine.
Newport Beach also contracted separately with People Assisting the Homeless for social services, which is also ending because a social worker is part of the new contract with Huntington Beach. About $275,000 will be saved a year there, city officials said.
Newport Beach began with 20 beds at the Costa Mesa Bridge Shelter — paying about $99,000 per month — and later added five more. When fewer people needed beds, Jurjis said the city began looking for other options. Any Newport Beach residents occupying beds in the Costa Mesa shelter would be allowed to remain there until year’s end, Jurjis said.
Councilmember Robyn Grant noted the new contract saves Newport Beach more than $1 million annually, with the reduced cost of shelter beds and social services.
“This is a new opportunity to right-size our shelter,” Grant said. “It’s a huge saving to our city.”
Councilmember Erik Weigand commended Mayor Lauren Kleiman at a recent council meeting for her collaborative work with Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon.
“Having relationships with other regional partners helps us come up with some of the great solutions,” he said. “Appreciate the mayor’s hard work on that.”
McKeon said the opportunity for collaboration came at a good time for both cities as the local need for space in the 164-bed navigation center has fallen.
“We’ve reduced homelessness in our city every single year,” McKeon said, adding that when he was elected in 2022, that was among his key priorities. As a third-generation Huntington Beach resident, he said, he was watching his town spiral with homelessness and crime.
McKeon said the recent results from the county’s point-in-time count show his city’s progress, with a 17% reduction reported in people living on Huntington Beach streets.
“For the last four years, we’ve achieved the greatest number in our city’s history in terms of reduction,” he said. “Getting our people off the street, into our navigation center, and into services, employment, and housing.
“Every year, we’re continuing to see great results, and the point in time count was the final crescendo,” he said. “With that success, it’s opened up opportunities where now we have extra beds in our navigation center, where it made sense with Newport to take 10 or more beds.”
McKeon said that the Huntington Beach City Council supported its Police Department by passing laws in 2023 prohibiting people from sleeping in tents in parks and against loitering and sleeping in public restrooms, and that has made all the difference.
A joint effort among outreach, social services, faith-based groups, and a community task force has proven a winning combination, he said, to get folks off the street and into the shelter and moving toward stability.
“Once they get into the navigation center, with our case workers and homeless task force, we made that a priority,” he said. “With accountability, you can achieve positive results.”
And he said space might be available for other cities as well.
“There’s opportunity for other cities if it makes sense for us,” he said. “With Newport, it lined up perfectly, and they were great to work with.”