SALT LAKE CITY — Determined to help reduce issues associated with Salt Lake City's overwhelmed homeless shelter, downtown business leaders are stepping in.

Their plan: a paid "street team" with backgrounds in social work roaming the streets of downtown Salt Lake City — some on bikes, others on Segways — doing everything from scrubbing graffiti to asking the nearby panhandler, "How can I help?"

The Downtown Alliance is gearing up to contract with New York-based StreetPlus, a cleaning, social service outreach and safety services contractor that's currently serving more than 65 improvement districts across the U.S. — including areas in Los Angeles and Chicago.

"We think it's a very inexpensive way to address some of the challenges we have right now relative to homelessness and panhandling, and really a way to create a safer and more welcoming downtown area," Jason Mathis, executive director of the Downtown Alliance, said.

Mathis said Downtown Alliance intends to implement the pilot program this year. It's expected to cost about $315,000 to fund the five-member team annually.

The alliance — largely funded by a voluntary property tax on downtown businesses — has already budgeted about $100,000 for the program, Mathis said, while the remainder is expected to be raised in donations from downtown businesses.

The aim is to provide extra assistance to alleviate pressures on downtown's business community while waiting for Salt Lake City's new homeless service delivery model to be fully implemented. Three new homeless resource centers meant to break up downtown's 1,100-bed homeless shelter are expected to be built over the next couple of years.

The program likely won't impact the areas near 500 West, where the Road Home population is most concentrated since the area is already saturated with homeless services, Mathis said. Rather, the team will focus on helping other downtown business areas such as Main Street, Broadway and The Gateway.

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"Long term it will help to create a more welcoming, comfortable and safe downtown for everyone," Mathis said. "This is really about an expanded program for everyone, not just homeless people."

While the team will be there to help connect people in need to homeless services, Mathis said they will also be there to act as a "roving concierge" for visitors and conventiongoers, helping with directions or even dinner reservations.

Camille Winnie, a consultant for the Downtown Alliance who's been working on the project, said the program won't be "just a response to homelessness" but an effort to generally make downtown Salt Lake City "a safe, clean and friendly environment for everyone."

The safety "ambassadors" and social outreach workers would be paid between $11.75 and $21.50 an hour, depending on whether they also assume the roles as team supervisors.

Winnie said at least one team member will be a certified social worker, while others on the team are expected to have some form of social service background.

They won't be trained law enforcement officers, Winnie said, but they will "communicate regularly" with Salt Lake police and local homeless service providers.

"We are additional eyes and ears. We are not police," said Steve Hillard, president of StreetPlus, while presenting the program to local business leaders this week. "We're there to help control the environment and when we need to, we call professionals in to handle situations."

In Chicago, the StreetPlus team called the Chicago Loop Alliance provided more than 4,200 service referrals in 2016 and helped nearly 100 people get off the streets and into various programs, according to StreetPlus data.

Hillard expects the program to "make a huge difference" in Salt Lake City.

They key, he said, is "constant interaction" with individuals in need.

"We learn who they are and what their issues are — what works and doesn't work," Hillard said. "Then we're able to be there when they make that decision that they need help."

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