Homeless Shelter for Mentally Ill Finally Gets OK : Housing: Beacon House in Orange is the result of a 7-year effort. It will offer 12 residents services ranging from counseling to social activities.

It once provoked a community uproar that pitted angry residents against homeless advocates and elected officials.

But now, after a seven-year battle, Orange County’s first homeless shelter for mentally ill people is finally becoming a reality. Last month, renovations began on Beacon House--a three-bedroom house on Drew Way in Orange that will eventually become home to 12 homeless people who suffer from a variety of mental disabilities.

After numerous delays, Beacon House is expected to begin accepting residents in May. The shelter will provide everything from counseling to social activities and outings for its residents--its goal being to help people make the transition into a job or an independent living situation.

The decision to go ahead with the shelter has been hailed by mental health advocates as a ground-breaking one that sends a message to the community that society must make room for the mentally ill homeless. According to mental health experts, about 8,000 people call Orange County’s streets home. Although estimates vary, some believe that as many as 40% of these suffer from various mental illnesses.

The shelter will be funded through a $350,000 state Housing and Community Development grant.

However, for the coalition of nonprofit groups, businesses and others who fought for the project, it has been a long road.

The shelter has been plagued by so many setbacks along the way that Episcopal Services Alliance (ESA) Executive Director Dennis White credits divine intervention with finally bringing matters along. “I feel that somebody up there must have wanted this to happen because there were so many times that we could have given up,” said White, whose ESA will administer the facility. “It’s also the commitment from the community that has finally made all of this possible.”

According to White, the original plans called for a 19-bed home. But after strong opposition from residents in the neighborhood had stalled the project for several months, organizers were forced to scale back their proposal.

Later, after the plan was finally approved in the face of strong community protest by the Board of Supervisors in May, 1992, project organizers ran into further problems. About $200,000 of the total state Department of Housing and Community Development grant--originally awarded in 1986--got held up in 1992 because of state legislators’ inability to agree on the new budget.

“Since our funds got held up in the state budget, we didn’t have the money to close escrow,” White said. “That was No. 1. Then, we had to resubmit all the building plans for approval because we had changed the plans from a 19-bed to a 12-bed facility.”

The ESA already runs Martha House, a 10-bed shelter for homeless women, also in Orange, and Anchor House, a shelter in San Clemente.

However, according to advocates for the mentally ill, those shelters are not equipped to deal with the growing numbers of homeless people who suffer from manic depression, schizophrenia and other illnesses.

On Thursday, ESA officials will hold a ground-breaking ceremony at 10 a.m. to officially celebrate the birth of the shelter. It will take place at the site at 18792 Drew Way. The public is invited to attend.