It's 8:30 a.m. on a Friday, and four women are loading plastic trash bags filled with their lives' possessions into a van outside the shelter known as the Center of Hope.

For them, a dream is coming true, and a half-dozen other homeless women are standing to the side, wishing they were leaving, too.

"This is good for all of us," says Janice Williams, 51, one of those watching. "They came here broken, lonely and unsuccessful, but they're finally doing something with their lives."

More people than ever are moving out of homelessness in Mecklenburg County. But it's an accomplishment overshadowed by the record numbers still walking into shelters every night.

Experts credit the growing success rate to a new approach used by the area's network of homeless agencies: one that trains the homeless to be more self-sufficient, rather than just giving them a place to sleep.

Examples:

The Men's Shelter of Charlotte more than doubled the number of men it moved into housing last year, from 124 to 300.

Community Link, which helps "the working homeless," got 816 homeless people across the region into housing, including 449 children. The agency has nearly tripled the number it helped two years ago.

Charlotte Family Housing, a new agency recently formed from three others, saw a 25 percent increase, helping an average of 225 families last year get into housing.

Those numbers aside, Charlotte continues to face a growing homelessness problem. The latest count put the number at more than 6,000, fueled in part by a big jump in homeless families.

But the rise of success stories offers promise, as former street people find jobs, return to college, or connect with social programs that put them into stable housing.

Tasha Sturdivant, 22, and her three children were among the four families that recently moved out of the Center of Hope, thanks to a new partnership with Charlotte Housing Authority, Mecklenburg County, and St. Gabriel and St. Matthew Catholic churches.

That collaboration is expected to move an average of five homeless families a month into housing over the next six months, officials said. The Center of Hope continues to be one of the community's most important transitional bridges, moving a record 520 households out of the shelter last year.

"If it wasn't for the Center of Hope, I would have had my kids taken away," says Sturdivant.

"I'm about to move into my first house. When I get there, I think the first thing I'll do is cry. After that, I'll unpack."

Similar success stories can be found at homeless programs across the county, including single men and women, entire families and the elderly.

Many homeless people have jobs, but can't afford the upfront cost of moving into a new home or apartment.

Aretha Simuel is an example. A certified nursing assistant, Simuel says her finances spun out of control after she had a stroke in 2008, followed by a devastating house fire in 2009.

Charlotte Family Housing's Plaza Place shelter gave her food, medicine and a place to stay. Then Community Link helped improve her credit score, found her a "dream home" and even came up with the security deposit, she says.

Simuel's daughter is now about to start college and her son is in the Navy.

"It's amazing. My life is stabilized, and I can't say enough about what these (charities) have done for me," she says. "As long as I could show I was working hard, they bent over backwards."

Barry Webb, 49, found similar success through the Men's Shelter of Charlotte and Community Link. He's a recovering addict who served 17 months in prison on firearms charges, only to end up homeless.

He's now sober, working for the men's shelter as a supervisor and has two sons in college.

"I realize that I couldn't point a finger at anybody but myself," he says. "I was determined to do all I could to be a productive member of society, and I can say I'm feeling good about the future now."

Carson Dean is chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Homeless Services Network, which has about 40 member agencies. He says the challenge is that the growing successes are being met with growing needs.

Last month, he says, the Men's Shelter of Charlotte averaged 586 men a night, the highest ever. And at least 50 men a month for the past three months have been newcomers to homelessness.

Still, he expects the success stories to keep edging up thanks to new options. These include the recently unveiled Charlotte Family Housing and the expected completion next year of Moore Place for the chronically homeless.

Charlotte Rescue Mission and United Family Services are near their goals for raising money to build adjacent shelter projects for addicted and battered women, both of which could open next year.

The Men's Shelter is also looking into ways to help homeless men overcome barriers to employment, Dean says. A committee will consider such options as having men from the shelter work without pay at local companies, to gain valuable experience.

"We need to get these guys working now to give them a work history and to find business partners that will give them serious consideration for jobs," Dean says.

"We need to try and outpace the numbers coming into the shelter vs. the numbers moving out."