New York, NY —

WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

The fight over whether Fifth Avenue Presbyterian should allow the homeless to sleep on its steps started under the Guiliani administration and has persisted ever since.

Only now, instead of court battles, the city wants to convince church leaders by showing them the temporary apartments where the homeless can stay as they wait for permanent housing.

Robert Hess is the commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services.

HESS: They'll get an opportunity to see some of the options and some of the solutions where people currently residing on the steps of the church could actually move into very quickly.

Hess says in the last two months, 15 men who spent an average of 12 years on the streets have moved into their own places.

Fifth Avenue Presbyterian says it's encouraged by the progress, but says only in a more perfect world will the homeless not need the steps for shelter. For WNYC, I'm Cindy Rodriguez.