SALT LAKE CITY — Elaina Birdsall said she left home when she was 15 because living on the streets was easier than living with her mother, who grappled with drug addiction.

Now, after more than seven years of moving between homeless shelters and struggling in an abusive relationship, Birdsall finally has a home for herself and her two sons: 2-year-old Harlow and Draven, who was born just three weeks ago.

"It's nice to finally have friends and a community, not being at the shelter worrying about where you're going to get your kid's next bottle of formula," she said Tuesday, holding Draven close to her chest. "Now I finally feel like I'm settled."

Birdsall lives at Bud Bailey, a Salt Lake apartment complex that provides 136 permanent housing units for low-income households. Thirty percent of her income goes toward rent payments, but she also receives rent assistance from the Salt Lake County Housing Authority's continuous care program, which provides funding to help reduce homelessness.

While Birdsall has finally found stability, more than 14,000 people are homeless in Utah on any given night this year, a number that has fluctuated over the past decade — up from about 12,000 in 2007, yet down from 16,000 in 2012, according to a 2014 state report.

On average, Utah faces a slow but steady homelessness increase, despite ongoing efforts from dozens of homeless services providers throughout the Wasatch Front.

That's why Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and the Salt Lake metro area's major homeless services providers joined together for a news conference Tuesday to present a collective plan for a more calculated approach to solving homelessness in the Salt Lake Valley.

"This (plan) recognizes that the faces of homelessness are human beings, real people in our community," the mayor said. "It recognizes that even though we spend, collectively, $52 million per year on homelessness, we aren't achieving the outcomes that we hold ourselves to."

After 10 months of collaboration among 31 different government, nonprofit and private entities — including Volunteers of America, Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, Department of Workforce Services and LDS Humanitarian Services — the mayor said an "unprecedented" and "monumental" agreement is in place, aligning all 31 organizations on a single plan to achieve the same specific goals.

"The work we are each doing needs to be a part of a system rather than an individualized effort," McAdams said. "By agreeing to pull together in the same direction as a team, we are going to make the biggest dent yet in the problem of homelessness."

Together, the groups have "mapped the genome of homelessness," and "set a destination," the mayor said, resulting in 14 specific goals.

"As we map the genome, we'll learn that there's a missing chromosome, and it's the affordable housing chromosome," said Matt Minkevitch, executive director of the Road Home. "That's something we've got to work on as a community."

Birdsall was excited to hear about the new plan to fight homelessness in Salt Lake County.

"I know so many families and people that need help, people who are just stuck because they fell between the cracks like I did," she said. "There are so many out there who could use what I have."

The mayor said the plan also includes evaluating the region's facilities based on recommendations that should be made by the end of the year when the committee formed by McAdams and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker finishes its research.

"Instead of hoping it works, we are going to measure and hold ourselves accountable to meeting these outcomes," the mayor said. "These outcomes are going to be the lens through which we make funding decisions going forward."

14 goals

Here is an outline of the 14 goals:

1. Recognize and meet the distinct needs of these at-risk and homeless populations: families with children, transitional-aged youth, single men and women, veterans, domestic violence victims, individuals with behavioral health disorders, individuals who are medically frail or terminally ill, individuals exiting prison or jail, and unsheltered homeless.

2. Divert individuals and families from emergency shelters whenever possible.

3. Meet the basic needs of those in crisis.

4. Provide individuals and families with stabilization services when they need them.

5. Decrease Salt Lake County's homelessness rates over time.

6. Coordinate entry and a common, consistent assessment tool to provide appropriate, timely access to services across the system.

7. Individuals who are homeless have a relationship with a case worker or similar individualized support.

8. Individuals who exit homelessness will be employed and/or have increased income or financial stability.

9. Salt Lake County's housing supply meets the demand and needs of all residents.

10. People have access to the specific services and supports they need to avoid homelessness.

11. Children, adolescents and adolescents transitioning to adulthood do not experience homelessness.

12. If individuals and families become homeless, we prevent it from happening again.

13. Neighborhoods that host homeless service facilities are welcoming and safe for all who live, visit, work, recreate, receive services or do business there.

14. Neighborhoods offering services also offer access to employment, job training and positive activities during the day.

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