Ledyard — Just one week after the death of Bill Walsh in the woods of Waterford last April, a group of advocates began the work of building a 10-year plan to end homelessness in southeastern Connecticut.

Six months and another death later, they unveiled that plan Thursday.

Dedicated to Walsh and to Danny Worobel, who died in those same woods in October, the plan lays out a detailed set of concrete goals and recommendations to eradicate homelessness in the region by 2016.

The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said this week that Worobel died of ischemia, or inadequate blood flow to the heart.

The presentation, at the headquarters of the United Way of Southeastern Connecticut, began with a greeting from one young woman who told the story of her salvation.

Erica Marotto, who lived for three years on the streets of Hartford, now has a subsidized apartment in New London with her two boys.

“It is a wonderful feeling to know that I don't have to live on the street anymore, and I can provide for my children. Last week I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for my children in my own home for the very first time, and next week I will decorate a Christmas tree for the very first time for my children,” she said before dissolving into tears.

Philip Mangano, executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, said the mission of the group was “to bring an end to the moral and spiritual and human disgrace in southeastern Connecticut of homelessness.”

And speaking to Marotto, he said, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. You are that substance, you are that evidence of what this whole plan is about. You bear testimony that those who are our neighbors who are homeless now can have their homelessness ended.”

The region joins 283 cities and towns across the nation that have put together plans to address the issue, Mangano said. And because the region is unique, it will provide a model for similar communities, he said.

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The first focus of the plan is the creation of permanent supportive housing, which has been shown to be the most effective tool in combating homelessness.

Supportive housing provides tenants with the social services they need to recover from mental illnesses and substance abuse problems, and to find work and build productive lives in their communities.

The plan calls for the creation of 704 new units of permanent, affordable housing and supportive housing over the next 10 years, with an immediate goal to start the process of creating 49 units in February.

Lest anyone question the expense of such an endeavor, planners gave the example of the costs of letting someone live on the streets as opposed to housing him.

Larry Swartz, who knew and lived with both Walsh and Worobel, cost taxpayers $50,000 in ambulance and detoxification services in the year ending June 30, they said.

By comparison, the cost of providing a man identified only as Basil, also an alcoholic, with supportive housing during the same period was $10,000.

It's the recognition of the economic impact of homelessness on the community that “has driven and directed the political will toward solutions,” Mangano said.

He pointed to a study of 119 homeless people in Boston who, over a five-year period, made 18,000 visits to the emergency rooms of hospitals, and to another study, of 15 chronic homeless people in San Diego who, over a period of 18 months, cost the city and county $3 million.

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Other provisions of the plan include:

• The “seamless coordination” of all the various social services in the region so that “no door is the wrong door for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.”

• A public relations campaign to confront the stigma often associated with supportive housing.

• The establishment of a year-round shelter and service center “targeting chronically homeless individuals.”

• Partnerships with mental health, foster care and correctional institutions to ensure that no one is discharged into homelessness.

• Services and interventions, such as “eviction prevention, security deposit assistance and emergency rental assistance” to help people who have homes keep them.

• Training of social workers to help homeless people receive the Social Security or veterans benefits to which they are entitled.

Mangano stressed the importance of implementing these provisions of the plan.

“These plans are community-based, but they need to be led by political will,” he said. “Without political will, you know what happens. That plan goes and it sits on a shelf, and then it gathers dust, and then it's covered with cobwebs, and then it's the subject of some future archeological public policy dig.”

Andrew Maynard, vice chairman of the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments, who was also a co-chairman of the steering committee that oversaw development of the plan, said there was no chance of that.

“This is a living document; it's a working document,” said Maynard, who was elected to the state Senate last month. “We're going to hit the ground running with this. We're going to really be diligent, not just present this plan today but continue to implement it.”

United Way President Janet Pearce, the other co-chairman of the steering committee, said the first meeting of the “shoreline community care team” would be Jan. 10.

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There were more than 50 people from all walks of life involved in putting together the plan, Maynard said, including social service workers, businesspeople, government and elected officials, hospital and health-care officials, and members of the religious community.

If they follow through, Mangano said, they will see results.

“The good news is there are cities around our country that are two years into implementations of their 10-year plans who are seeing for the first time in two decades a reduction of the number of people on their streets,” he said. “They're seeing a reduction of the number of people long-term in their shelters.”

Quincy, Mass., has seen a 20 percent reduction in the number of homeless on its streets since implementing its plan, he said, and Nashua, N.H., has seen a reduction of 40 percent.

And Mangano spoke of the ultimate goal.

“What is that goal? It is to ensure that the untimely deaths of Danny and Bill ... are the exception, and that the rare miracle that Erica represents, that that becomes common,” he said. “That's what this plan is all about.”

k.robinson@theday.com