The total number of homeless has grown by 16 percent this year to an estimated 15,836 people, according to a report released this week.

But the increase is accompanied by news that the number of chronically homeless Utahns, those who have been more frequently on the streets, has dropped by 15 percent. The calculation is based on an annual count of the homeless population, which was conducted in January by state officials, homeless service providers and volunteers.

The trend was hailed as proof that the millions of dollars being poured into housing for the chronically homeless are making a difference. "We're expecting to see this continue to go down as we add more housing units," said Lloyd Pendleton, the director of the state's homeless task force.

Utah is in the midst of a massive push to provide housing options for the chronically homeless and decrease homelessness overall. This February, the state's second apartment complex specifically geared toward the chronically homeless population opened for 84 men and women in South Salt Lake. The residents are given a place to live following the "housing first" model and offered help with addiction, employment and mental health problems after they move in.

Next year, a former Holiday Inn in Salt Lake City will be transformed into a 201-unit building for homeless families and single men and women, dramatically expanding housing options for those in shelters and on the street.

All of this is a product of the state's ambitious 10-year plan to eliminate chronic homelessness and reduce homelessness overall by 2014.

The homeless eating lunch at the St. Vincent de Paul resource center this week had their own take about why numbers are up in the state. Homelessness can be explained by laziness, drugs, bad luck and a host of other factors, they said. But the numbers in Salt Lake might be attributed in part to its positive reputation.

"The word on the streets is, go to Salt Lake City," said William Mix, 26, who is homeless and grew up in California. "It's the best place to go to get help."

This winter, the number of families at the Midvale shelter was so high that the space had to be reconfigured to accommodate everyone. In Utah, the number of homeless people in families, the fastest-growing group, is up 28 percent.

Matt Minkevitch, the executive director of The Road Home, which runs the winter shelter in Midvale, linked the increase to the tight rental market.

Fewer apartments are available and those that are vacant often cost more than in the past. Last year, Salt Lake County rental rates increased 8.8 percent, the biggest rise in a decade, according to Apartment Realty Advisors. The Salt Lake County vacancy rate at the end of last year was 4.5 percent, which was the lowest in more than a decade.

"I think that poor families that are struggling are less-attractive tenants in a hot rental market than in a market where there's an abundance of supply," Minkevitch said.

Other advocates attributed part of the homeless increase to low salaries.

"Our economy, even though it's pretty strong in Salt Lake, the wages are not coming up to meet the housing costs and a lot of people are losing their housing," said Eileen Dwyer, the director of the Salt Lake County Coordinating Council, whose mission is to advocate for the homeless.

The Road Home consistently had more than 1,000 people per night sleeping in its shelters this winter, a record in the facility's history. Having several dozen of its chronically homeless move into new housing opened up beds for other people, Minkevitch said.

On Tuesday, Terry Stennis, 26, mopped the floor at the downtown St. Vincent de Paul resource center, a Catholic Community Services program, where more than 200,000 meals will be served to the homeless this year. He was staying with his girlfriend and her three children at the shelter across the street after being evicted from his last apartment.

Getting out of homelessness takes the right attitude, he said.

"The only reason someone's homeless is because they don't want to do nothing for themselves," he said.

"They don't hold strong with faith that they're going to make it."

jlyon@sltrib.com