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Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams said Wednesday he's told Salt Lake City leaders they won't be fully reimbursed for the $10 million purchase of four homeless shelter sites and suggested they turn 653 E. Simpson Ave. into a development that includes affordable housing.

The announcement was met with surprise by city officials who said they weren't ready to sign off on the plan for a housing complex they described as coming out of the blue after two years of discussion.

With the city and county at an impasse, McAdams' Collective Impact Steering Committee scrapped Wednesday's scheduled recommendations for shelter populations. Asked for a "101" on the new model for resource centers, he said, "to get fairly specific about the sites when there's still a pretty big gulf is hard."

McAdams and Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski are at odds over two key issues.

McAdams has repeatedly said that he wants The Road Home downtown emergency shelter to remain open as services come on line at the planned new, smaller sites and draw down the homeless population. Biskupski and city administrators have called for the immediate closure of the 210 S. Rio Grande shelter when the other four begin operation — a view echoed Wednesday by area business leaders.

Further, McAdams has been critical of the $10 million the city spent to acquire two of the four sites — including the controversial 653 E. Simpson (2300 South) site, which City Council members Lisa Adams and Erin Mendenhall oppose.

Biskupski and McAdams met Monday to discuss conditions that would guide their collective effort, parting ways without resolution.

"This isn't the first time we've had disagreements as a group," McAdams said Wednesday. "We've had challenges in the past, and we've worked through them."

His development vision for 653 E. Simpson would include market-rate, affordable and deeply affordable housing. That, combined possibly with additional affordable housing in Murray, could eliminate the need for a fourth shelter, McAdams said.

Adams, whose district includes 653 E. Simpson Ave., has made a similar proposal. She said Wednesday that the county mayor's pitch "would be a great use of that property."

The District 7 councilwoman noted she was "pleasantly surprised" by the plan, adding that "it will shake things up a bit" because the city and county seemed to be in agreement on four resource center sites of 150-beds each, rather than three shelters and a housing complex.

McAdams' proposal "may be a better use of taxpayer dollars," Adams said. "Housing is a piece of the puzzle that we need to have in order to draw down The Road Home."

Mendenhall, whose District 5 is close to Simpson Avenue, said she welcomed McAdams' proposal.

"It's refreshing to hear our county leadership say Simpson is not suitable for a resource center," she said.

But Mendenhall added that if there are to be only three 150-bed facilities, the plan for a women's-only center may fall by the wayside, leaving one of the most vulnerable groups out in the cold.

Wednesday's announcement caught City Councilman Andrew Johnston off guard. He said it appears to be something of an end run, because it is understood the city would select homeless resource center sites and the country would organize services.

"We need specific plans going forward. I haven't seen a plan," Johnston said. "You can say you want a housing project. But I haven't seen a plan."

Nonetheless, Johnston said that the political risks are such that all sides have reason to come together.

Biskupski was not available for comment Wednesday. But David Litvack, her deputy chief of staff, tried to minimize the fallout, saying that there has to be better communication between the county and city.

City officials have not had a chance to "vet" the proposal, Litvack said. Monday was the first time Biskupski had heard it.

When told Litvack said the city was still vetting McAdams' proposal, McAdams said: "I'm encouraged to hear that."

McAdams included his programming committee's guiding principles in a packet distributed to dozens of stakeholders Wednesday and referred to them often, saying that the immediate closure of The Road Home shelter would defy their stated commitment "to meet the basic needs of those in crisis."

Bill Tibbitts, representing the Crossroads Urban Center, a private nonprofit that assists low-income Utahns, said he was "heartened" to hear McAdams' proposal.

Crossroads officials also have been outspoken on keeping The Road Home shelter open until it can be demonstrated that it's no longer needed.

The Rio Grande Street shelter's capacity is 1,100, while each new shelter is capped at 150 beds to lessen the impact on affected communities, cut down on the drug trade and provide more intimate services.

But the Pioneer Park Coalition's Josh Romney said the issues at The Road Home were what brought everyone to the table to begin with.

"I'm afraid that if it's just our goal that someday we'll close it down, that three or four years from now, we'll be looking at a shelter with 1,200 people in it," said Romney, a developer and son of 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. "Having a loose goal doesn't satisfy me."

Nearby property owner Tiffanie Provost echoed those concerns. Salt Lake City, she said, could become a go-to destination for homeless people in neighboring states as beds increase.

The Collective Impact Steering Committee will meet in a month. McAdams said by then he hopes the city and county will have reached agreement on the Simpson Avenue site.

Twitter: @matthew_piper