Discharging people who have no place to go from hospitals and homeless treatment programs might soon be prohibited in Broward County.

At the urging of the Broward Coalition for the Homeless, the County Commission on Tuesday agreed with the concept that people should not be discharged to the streets and should instead be placed in shelters, housing and other residential settings.

The plan approved Tuesday only applies to the North Broward Hospital District and the South Broward Hospital District.

But county officials said before the commission gives final approval to the policy next month, about 30 social service agencies and homeless assistance centers that receive county money will be added.

"This has been an endemic problem in the community … as long as anyone can remember," said Steve Werthman, Broward's coordinator of homeless programs. He said the homeless are often discharged to the streets because there aren't enough shelter beds available, or because there is an "unfortunate breakdown in communication" when workers at hospitals or agencies mistakenly think there's room someplace else.

Although the plan won't become enforced until it is written into the contracts of agencies getting county funds, it is the official policy of the county effective immediately, said Angelo Castillo, the Broward County Human Services Department director.

"That's unethical for a service provider -- health care or a social service -- to discharge somebody to the streets," Castillo said. "They can go to a shelter, back to their family. They may just have to stay there, but they can't be discharged to the streets. That would violate their (social service agencies) contract with the county."

The county commission's move comes after the coalition cited an instance in which an 18-year-old homeless woman was discharged from the hospital with a 2-day-old baby. Homeless advocates say it's common for the homeless to be forced out of programs and put back on the streets when their time is up.

"If we can stop an inappropriate discharge, we made a difference in the number of homeless people," said Laura Carey, executive director of the Broward Coalition for the Homeless. "This is a big achievement."

Castillo said there are no county statistics to show the extent of the problem, known as "dumping."

Castillo said future talks would include the Broward Sheriff's Office to begin programs to avoid discharging people from the county jail unless they have a place to go as well.

Carey said the plan is modeled after one in Massachusetts.

In 1993, that state's Department of Mental Health ordered that the homeless could not be discharged to the streets from psychiatric centers; they could only be sent to residential settings. And in the mid-1990s, the state's Department of Public Health ruled that a person could not be discharged to the streets from a detoxification program.

Philip Mangano, executive director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, said in a telephone interview that the program has been a success, gauged by a decrease in the number of people entering emergency shelters.

"It sounds like in Broward, it's the first step toward prevention of homelessness," he said. "You'll see the number of homeless people decrease there, so, bravo."

Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom said, "County government has gotten much better at identifying and dealing with problems related to homelessness. This issue is something that's been building up over time."

Officials from both hospital districts said Tuesday that they already work with social workers to place homeless people when they are discharged. Other social service providers said they were pleased with the county's decision.

"It's a professional responsibility that appropriate discharge is done," said Steve Ronik, chief executive officer of Henderson Mental Health Center. "That's the way people should operate anyway; it's an industry standard that you discharge people ... only when you have another appropriate level of care."