With nearly 32,000 fewer people in shelters or on the streets nationally in 2007, officials say efforts to reduce homelessness are making an impact. Forty-nine states, including Utah, and hundreds of cities are working on 10-year plans to reduce homelessness.

But this year, Utah is seeing an increase in its homeless population, according to data released in April. That number rose by 16 percent to an estimated 15,836 Utahns, whose homelessness is attributed to factors ranging from substance abuse or domestic violence to economic woes.

The number of chronically homeless Utahns has gone down by 15 percent since last year, thanks in part to new housing developed specifically for them.

Next year, a former Holiday Inn in downtown Salt Lake City will reopen as apartments for several hundred homeless Utahns.

"The efforts on the 10-year plans are paying dividends," said Lloyd Pendleton, the director of the state's homeless task force.

- Julia Lyon