COSTA MESA : Angel for Homeless Faces Loss of House

Over 20 years, Renee Namaste has opened her home to people who needed temporary shelter. First it was preschool children. Later it was homeless alcoholics and drug addicts.

Such services do not come cheap. Now, after years of declining government funding for her services, Namaste faces foreclosure on her home.

Since November, 1989, Namaste, who has a doctorate in counseling psychology, has sheltered drug addicts and alcoholics, ranging from single mothers to elderly men.

Some became nuisances who were ejected for breaking house rules, but many others became dear friends.

“I have realized now I would rather have a friend who is going through recovery than anybody else,” Namaste said. “They have been through the pits, and their spiritual awakening is so awesome. They realize that you don’t grow unless you’ve been through the bottom.”

But the problem with taking in the homeless and the downtrodden, Namaste said, is that they come in with absolutely nothing. For the first six months of her shelter operation, she was subsidizing everybody--paying the bills, buying food, even lending money to residents.

On more than one occasion, Namaste refinanced her home to pay the mounting bills. Eventually, Namaste--an author who conducts workshops at Rancho Santiago and Coast Community colleges--ran out of equity on her house. So if she cannot pay her bills within 90 days, the mortgage company will foreclose.

Twenty years ago, Namaste, newly divorced with two small children, decided to open a preschool. She converted her home, accepting children whose parents could not pay for day care and sick children who had been rejected by other centers.

Just over a year ago, she said, she was getting “burned out” by day care and thought it would not be fair for the children to continue if her own enthusiasm was gone.

Namaste shifted her attention to the homeless. Already a volunteer for a group that delivered sandwiches to the homeless, she decided to devote time to more pressing needs and opened her temporary shelter, where the homeless can stay while searching for jobs and permanent housing.

“That became the catalyst for this,” she said. “They need somebody who is, and I don’t want to use the word Pollyanna, but very idealistic. I believe in the concept of a kinship family.”

Namaste converted her home, making room for 15 people to receive help and shelter. Bunk beds crowd bedrooms, and the house is a maze of hallways, bedrooms and offices.

Homes for alcohol and drug addicts, called sober living sites, have increased over recent years, said Ron Webb, program manager for contract services with the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Namaste, who recently applied for 200 private grants, said she hesitates to ask for government money because she fears that the process would open up her operation to criticism from neighbors.