apache web root directory

I have a LAMP (apache2, php5) setup on Debian 4.0

I have virtual hosting setup and my issue is that when i configure my
virtual hosts to point to /var/www/sitename, it works fine (php and
static sites). When i change the same virtual host to point to /home/
user/sitename nothing displays. This is for php pages only. For a
static site with no php, both paths work fine and the page displays no
problems.

Am completely stuck. Any help is greatly appreciated.