Fifty of Los Angeles' most vulnerable homeless people have moved off downtown's notorious Skid Row as a result of a county pilot program.

The unprecedented effort known as Project 50 completed its final housing placement this month, officials announced.  The press conference was attended by program partners from the county, city and more than two dozen public and private agencies at the Los Angeles Civic Center last week.

Zev Yaroslavsky, chair of the county board of supervisors, pledged: "If we can do 50, we can do 500."

The selection of Project 50 residents was based on a vulnerability index designed by the Common Ground Institute (CGI), which predicts that certain medical conditions increase an individual's risks for dying if the individual remains homeless.

The program is slated to expand this coming year, Yaroslavsky said. He  initiated Project 50 in October 2007 and called the effort a success only if it is taken to the next level.

"We have to pick areas around the county and not just on Skid Row," Yaroslavsky said.

Becky Kanis, CGI's director of innovations, said the majority of participants are African-American males, have an average age of 54 and have been homeless for an average of nearly 10 years. Fifty-five percent also reported tri-morbidity, which is a combination of mental health problems, addiction problems and a serious chronic disease such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease.

The CGI study suggests Project 50 is cost effective based on a survey of 43 participants. The survey indicated a sharp decline in emergency department visits, inpatient hospitalizations and jail stays after participants were housed.

The annual net cost per participant after being housed was $11,000--- a little more than half the amount the county spent on the same 43 participants when they were homeless a year before joining Project 50.

County Sheriff Lee Baca, an outspoken advocate for comprehensive programs to solve homelessness, said the program should be expanded because at least 2,500 homeless people can be found daily in the county jails he oversees. That amount comprises roughly 10 percent of the total county prison population.

"This has been a very difficult responsibility for me and my staff because morally it's an unacceptable solution to homelessness," Baca said about the jails. The sheriff said medical attention for many of the homeless is so grossly insufficient that the only path to minimal treatment is winding up behind bars. "They will get [treatment] going through the jail system," Baca said.

To help participants maintain housing and offset costs, the Integrated Supportive Services Team (ISST) was created. ISST provides tenants with health and behavioral support, and helps enroll tenants in benefit programs such as MediCal and General Relief.

Project 50 tenants were absent from the meeting, but local officials featured the success story of a 56-year-old participant that, for reasons of privacy, was identified as Mr. G.

Mr. G was known as "Wild Wild West" on the streets. He wore an eye-catching hat and was often found inebriated when contacted by outreach workers, officials said.

"He's been to the emergency room 25 times the year before he was placed in housing and now only three times because he has the integrated team as primary care," Kanis said.

Project 50 is a two-year pilot program with an authorized budget of $3.6 million. The program  has cost the county $1.1 million.  However after funding and one-time start up costs, the net operating cost to the county will be more than $500,000 annually.

Yaroslavsky said attracting just 50 tenants was an ambitious goal but expects the program to continue whether or not it reaches 500 participants by next year.

The project surveyed more than 350 individuals on Skid Row in December 2007 and found 140 individuals possessed at least one high-risk vulnerability indicator.

Mr.G, meanwhile, is still off the streets and safe in his new housing, officials said. They added he now wears a new hat.

Reach reporter Len Ly here.