Even so, leaders across Salt Lake County are putting stock in a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, which was adopted Thursday by the county's Council of Governments.

Mirroring a state and federal effort, the plan focuses on updating the county's housing inventory, using new software to track the homeless and providing them access to mainstream services, including counseling and outpatient treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.

"This provides them some stability with access to services," said Kerry Steadman, homeless-services coordinator for the county, who notes that housing would be permanent not transitional. "It's taking a lot of what's out there and putting it together in a better way."

Thursday's unanimous vote creates a sort of master plan, explains former Salt Lake City Mayor Palmer DePaulis, who says persuading all the jurisdictions in Utah's most populous county to sign on is "very significant."

"If we are able to get these individuals into apartments and single-room units, we think we're going to make a positive impact on county and city budgets," said DePaulis, chairman of a county committee that has studied the long-term homeless issue for two years.

A problem, as always, is funding. But, by adopting the big-picture outline, city and county officials have positioned themselves for state and federal grant money.

"They'll be anxious to give us additional funding because we're measuring outcomes and showing results," DePaulis said.

The chronic homeless - mostly men who don't have a home for more than a year or find themselves homeless four times over three years - squeeze the system the most. They represent barely 10 percent of that population, but use 57 percent of all resources.

A pilot program recently was launched in Salt Lake City that provided shelter to more than a dozen people living on the street. Social-service experts hope to learn from that experiment how to incorporate a countywide program.

Midvale Mayor JoAnn Seghini, who has guided the county and state effort, says the key to success is providing managed care.

"You can't take people who are broken and not give them the tools to fix themselves," she said.

Through a coalition of mayors and county officials working together on housing solutions for the chronic homeless, Seghini says the county's temporary resources will see some relief.

A summit to get started in 2006 is scheduled for January.