The Planning & Coordinating Organization for Homeless Services in the Greater Richmond Region

Our mission is to prevent, reduce, and end homelessness by facilitating creative solutions through the collaboration, coordination, and cooperation of regional resources and services.

On the Path to 25 Years

Founded in 1998 to ensure the Richmond region qualified for public funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Homeward has a proven track record of sharing accurate and verifiable data on best practices to serve our most vulnerable neighbors. For more than two decades, Homeward has studied homelessness by engaging in conversations with people living outdoors or in shelters to better understand programs and solutions for those experiencing homelessness. Relying on this research, Homeward has served as the foundation of our region’s collaborative and coordinated network of homeless service providers, including nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and funders.

What We Do...

Homeward empowers the Richmond region’s coordinated system to address homelessness because we have a bigger impact working together. 

Community leaders in the Richmond region established Homeward in 1998 as a nonprofit organization to coordinate and track homeless services. Since that time, Homeward has been the source of trusted data about homelessness and developed best practices and programs to support those experiencing homelessness. Homeward is an active participant in the national network of partners to reduce homelessness and considered a model by other communities. 

Ultimately, Homeward exists to ensure our region has access to federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This funding is vital to our region’s ability to address and reduce homelessness. Homeward also collects all HUD-required information and analyzes that data to report results, share best practices, and make it possible for our partners to focus on providing services that impact more of our most vulnerable neighbors.