Despite a 39% reduction in the city’s unhoused population since 2022, Garden Grove officials acknowledged long-term solutions such as affordable housing remain key challenges. 

It’s prompting new goals for the city’s 2025-2030 Comprehensive Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness.

City officials at the March 12 city council meeting touted initiatives they say contributed to the city’s progress with homelessness.

Yet some residents and activists remain skeptical of the success, questioning whether the lower numbers reflect people finding homes or if they’re being displaced to surrounding areas.

One initiative that Homeless Liaison Analyst Christy Le highlighted was the Central Cities Navigation Center, a joint effort between the County of Orange, Garden Grove, Westminster and Fountain Valley that launched last June.

“Since its opening, today, we have served a total of 257 clients, including 164 Garden Grove residents,” Le said.

She added that 179 people successfully exited the program “for successful housing placements,” but didn’t offer more details. 

Most however, still lack homes, as Le later said in her presentation that the city helped 11 people find housing and 90% of their clients are currently “document ready.”

David Duran, co-founder of Housing is a Human Right OC and the People’s Homeless Task Force, contends that enforcement efforts tend to prioritize visibility over viable solutions, more often displacing people rather than providing them with stable residences. 

“I’m sure they didn’t bring up the fact that they were the fourth highest city in the county with unhoused deaths,” Duran said in a phone interview, pointing at a report from the OC Sheriff Coroner, where Garden Grove had the fourth highest number of deaths in the county, with 39 reported in 2023 and 23 reported in 2024.  

Other city initiatives Le highlighted was a $1.5 million fencing project in collaboration with Caltrans, that saw 14 barriers installed at underpasses along the 22 Freeway, to help deter encampments. She also pointed to the city’s employment initiative, which was reported to have helped nearly 30 people find jobs.

Additionally, the city’s outreach such as its Special Resources Team, is said to have made over 5,000 contacts, referring more than 1,000 people to services. 

Looking ahead, city officials unveiled an outline of the city’s updated five-year homeless strategy set to be finalized in June. 

The outline shows the city plans on prioritizing quality of life, improving communications and service delivery systems, and expanding and utilizing partnerships.

While the city staff update on homelessness emphasized progress and ongoing and future initiatives, residents expressed concerns during public comment, saying the city’s efforts have been inconsistent, allowing encampments to return. 

[Read: The Year of Homeless Camp Crackdowns in Orange County] 

The term “successfully exited,” also drew scrutiny from Duran, who questioned how the Central Cities Navigation Center measured its achievements.

“If they would have said, ‘successfully housed,’ you and I would be having a party. Successfully exited doesn’t mean that,” Duran said. “It means they’re unhoused and either back on the streets, or maybe if they were fortunate, they got into a different form of transitional housing.”

Noriko Ostroy is an intern at Voice of OC. To contact her, email: storybynori@gmail.com