About Us
The Greater Richmond Continuum of Care (GRCoC) seeks to prevent, reduce, and end homelessness through effective and coordinated community-wide efforts and services.
GRCoC coordinates homeless services and homelessness prevention across the City of Richmond, and the counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover (including the town of Ashland), Henrico, New Kent, and Powhatan.
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
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.