Costa Mesa has high number of group homes, report says

Elise Gee

COSTA MESA -- A report submitted to the City Council on Monday

confirmed what has long been suspected by residents and community leaders

here: Costa Mesa has a higher ratio of group homes than any of its

neighboring cities.

The report provides an inventory of the known 86 group homes for

children, the developmentally disabled, recovering drug addicts and

alcoholics, the homeless, abused women and senior citizens in the city.

Council members requested the information after two group homes --

Yellowstone Women’s First Step House and Newport Harbor Recovery --

applied for conditional use permits to operate in the city.

The applications, which are still pending, raised questions about how

much a city could regulate group homes and whether there was an

overconcentration of group homes in certain neighborhoods.

“It told me just what I thought -- that we’re a very socially

responsible community,” Councilwoman Linda Dixon said of the report.

Dixon said she would like to see more regulation of group homes,

which, she said, in some cases operate as businesses and change the

character of the residential neighborhoods they operate in.

In a comparison of group homes in Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley,

Huntington Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach and Santa Ana, Costa Mesa had the

highest ratio of group homes per 100,000 people with 83. Fountain Valley

and Santa Ana followed respectively with 51 and 39 group homes per

100,000 people.

The majority of group homes in each city cater to the elderly.

However, Costa Mesa had more alcohol and drug recovery facilities (9) and

more homes for minors (16) than every other city except Santa Ana, which

only had one more home for each category. Also, Costa Mesa had the only

halfway house in the six cities. The halfway house provides transitional

living for up to six female former convicts.

Three residents in favor of more regulation spoke at the council

meeting, including Trudy Ohlig-Hall, who said she has four group homes

within her immediate neighborhood.

“We’re noticing an erosion of our R-1 and R-2 zones,” said Diane

Gomez, a second resident who spoke.

Cities are limited by the state when it comes to regulation of group

homes. If a group home is state-regulated and has six or fewer residents,

it is exempt from local controls.

Dixon said she wants to push for more local control especially when

residents are suffering effects from group homes such as traffic, noise

and parking problems.

Don Ward, who helped found Newport Harbor Recovery for recovering

alcoholics and drug addicts, had a different view of the homes. Looking

at a map compiled by staff that shows the locations of the 86 group homes

in the city, he said, “Every one of those dots means somebody’s getting

help.”

Dixon said she is not opposed to helping people but wants to make sure

that Costa Mesa residents don’t carry an unfair share.

“Other communities need to be equally responsible,” she said.