PHILADELPHIA —  A group that helps the homeless find housing, employment and health care is posting formerly homeless people in the restrooms of a downtown library to help manage those who flock there looking for shelter or a makeshift bath.

Officials with Project H.O.M.E. and the Free Library of Philadelphia hope the project, which started this week, will prevent loitering and unsanitary conditions. They also see the six-month pilot as a unique way to reach out to the homeless.

"They can relate to these folks," Ed Speedling, a community liaison with the advocacy group, said of the newly trained attendants. "They have a lot of empathy for them."

As a free facility open to the public, the library for years has dealt with throngs of homeless people looking to use facilities at its central branch, which is near popular tourist attractions on museum-lined Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Groups regularly give away food on the library's steps, also attracting homeless. Some linger in the restrooms, bathing themselves and occasionally causing disturbances.

At last count, Project H.O.M.E. said, more than 400 homeless people were living in downtown Philadelphia.

The library has recently undergone renovations, and officials wanted to find a creative way to deal with the issue while making the facility more pleasant.

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"It became a little bit overwhelming for us to keep the restrooms as clean and keep the library as hospitable as we want it to be," said Elliot Shelkrot, president and director of the library.

But it's a sensitive issue because the library doesn't want to keep people from using it to access information, Shelkrot said.

So, library officials approached Project H.O.M.E., and they developed a plan in which the nonprofit received a $17,000 contract to have its workers monitor the bathrooms.

The attendants pick up trash, give out pamphlets and advice to the homeless, and make sure visitors are behaving appropriately. For $7.50 an hour, they wear ID badges and carry radios, notifying maintenance or security if there is a disturbance or a facilities problem.

"We can't afford to have full-time paid people in the restroom just watching," Shelkrot said, adding that library workers support the program.

James Brown, 49, one of the new attendants, was homeless for a year before going to Project H.O.M.E. more than a decade ago. Being an attendant will help build his resume and work toward his goal of becoming a security guard, he said.

Brown has been encouraging others to try to break the cycle of homelessness, and he thinks some may be listening: Recently, when he put out some Project H.O.M.E. pamphlets, he said, they were all gone the next day.

He hopes to be able to take the next step in his own life soon, too.

"I'm not intending on staying here for the rest of my life," he said.

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On the Net:

http://www.projecthome.org/

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