Garden Grove

Garden Grove sits quietly in the shadow of Anaheim and Disneyland, a working-class Orange County city known for its large Vietnamese American community and the Little Saigon business corridor that runs through it. Despite the wealth surrounding it in Orange County, Garden Grove's median household income hovers around $78,000, and the gap between that figure and what someone sleeping in a car or on a sidewalk experiences is stark. Orange County's 2024 point-in-time count identified 7,322 homeless individuals countywide, and Garden Grove carries a real share of that number, especially along Garden Grove Boulevard and near Harbor Boulevard. The Salvation Army operates services in the city that include shelter referrals and basic necessities, while Mercy House works throughout Orange County on housing placement and outreach that reaches Garden Grove residents. Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, based nearby in Costa Mesa, also extends food assistance that many in Garden Grove rely on when local options run thin. This is a city that moves fast and doesn't always look twice, but there are people and doors here still willing to help if you knock. You are not invisible here, and you are not alone in this — one meal, one night, one conversation at a time, things can still move forward.