About the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care

The Greater Richmond Continuum of Care (GRCoC) is a regional coalition of organizations, local governments, service providers, community members, and people with lived expertise of homelessness working together to prevent and end homelessness across the Greater Richmond region. 

The GRCoC serves the City of Richmond, the Town of Ashland, and the counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, and Powhatan. As the region's designated Continuum of Care, the GRCoC coordinates planning, funding, data, and community partnerships to strengthen the local homelessness response system and improve outcomes for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Through inclusive planning and community engagement, members work together to identify needs, improve services, and develop strategies that help people quickly access housing and maintain long-term stability. 


The CoC's purpose is to:


  • Promote community-wide goals to end homelessness
  • Provide funding to quickly re-house homeless people while minimizing trauma and dislocation
  • Promote access to and effective use of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families
  • Optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness

What We Do 

The GRCoC brings together partners from across the region to coordinate efforts to address homelessness. This work includes: 

  • Community planning and strategic goal setting 
  • Coordinated Entry and service coordination 
  • Oversight of the region's Homeless Community Information System (HCIS) 
  • Data analysis and system evaluation 
  • Policy development and community decision-making 
  • Strategic allocation of federal, state, and local funding 
  • Monitoring system performance and outcomes 
  • Supporting collaboration among service providers, local governments, and community stakeholders 


The GRCoC is committed to transparent and collaborative decision-making. Community members, service providers, local governments, advocates, and people with lived expertise all play a role in shaping policies, priorities, and funding decisions. This work is carried out through the GRCoC membership, Board, committees, councils, and workgroups. The GRCoC coordinates several funding opportunities that support homelessness prevention, shelter, housing, and supportive services throughout the region. Funding decisions are guided by community priorities, local needs, federal and state requirements, performance data, and input from community stakeholders. 


Preventing and ending homelessness requires coordination across many organizations and systems. The GRCoC supports collaboration among outreach teams, shelters, housing providers, healthcare organizations, local governments, schools, and other community partners to help ensure people can access the services and housing resources they need. Membership in the GRCoC is open to anyone interested in collaborating to address homelessness in the Greater Richmond region. Members include nonprofit organizations, local governments, housing providers, healthcare systems, faith communities, advocates, businesses, and community members. Through participation in meetings, committees, councils, and workgroups, members help guide the work of the Continuum of Care.


Roles in the GRCoC

  • HCIS Committee – Advises on HMIS policies, data quality, reporting, and system performance.
  • Ranking Committee – Reviews and scores project applications during funding competitions.
  • Lived Expertise Council – Ensures people with lived experience of homelessness help inform CoC decision-making.
  • Youth Action Board – Elevates youth perspectives and informs efforts to prevent and end youth homelessness.
  • Action Review Committees – Review system performance, outcomes, and recommendations for improvement.
  • Quality Improvement Leadership – Supports continuous improvement efforts across the homeless response system.


  • CoC Membership – The broad community of stakeholders who participate in and guide the work of the GRCoC.
  • GRCoC Board – Provides leadership, oversight, and strategic direction for the Continuum of Care.
  • Homeward (Lead Agency) – Supports GRCoC operations, including case conferencing, and serves as the HMIS Lead, Coordinated Entry Lead, and Collaborative Applicant. Homeward provides administrative support, facilitates planning and coordination efforts, manages communications, oversees funding processes, and helps fulfill the Continuum of Care's responsibilities under federal and state requirements.
  • Governance Committee – Reviews governance documents and recommends improvements to CoC structure and processes.
  • System Policy and Process Committee (SPP) – Develops and oversees policies and procedures that guide the homeless response system.

Learn more by exploring the Leadership, Committees, and  Membership pages!

Our History

Public and private homeless service providers have been working together to address the needs of people experiencing homelessness in the Richmond region since the mid- 1990’s. In the late 1990’s, a diverse group of stakeholders came together under the auspices of the Richmond Task Force on Homelessness to create Homeward as a planning and coordinating entity. The group that was to become Homeward submitted the first regional funding application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1997.


Under the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009, HUD has asked communities to formalize their community planning processes and to establish a Continuum of Care board in order to guide the operations of the CoC. The Continuum of Care (CoC) was designed to address homelessness through a coordinated community-based process of identifying needs and building a system of housing and services to address those needs. The Greater Richmond CoC approved it's bylaws in July 2013.

The Greater Richmond Continuum of Care (GRCoC) serves as the Continuum of Care (CoC) for City of Richmond, and the counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, and Powhatan. GRCoC seeks to prevent, reduce, and end homelessness through effective and coordinated community-wide efforts and services.


Timeline:


  • 1997: Richmond organizations came together to form a Continuum of Care (CoC), working together to better serve the homeless. Homeward was created to operate as the backbone organization, planning and coordinating homeless services. Homeward submitted the first regional funding application to HUD.
  • 2006: The Greater Richmond CoC was extended to included Powhatan, Goochland, New Kent, and Charles City.
  • 2007-2008: The 10 year to end homelessness was created.
  • 2009: HEARTH act enacted. HUD has asked communities to formalize their community planning processes and to establish a Continuum of Care board in order to guide the operations of the CoC. More focus put onto the system as a whole, rather than separate programs.
  • 2013: The Greater Richmond CoC approved its bylaws. The CoC board was created for more formal oversight of the various organizations.