This seems to be something people don’t always give second thought to. When people talk about the homeless, the first things thought about are images of people on busy city streets in rusty clothes waiting around near allies. In there, the answer is quite static, because it can be I guess. But if that’s the case, change the setting and that changes too. In the places where I’ve lived, people often needed that mapped out. Where are they known in your rural locales?
There really aren’t any rural homeless. Most homeless people hang out in cities because resources are abundant in cities. They can be anonymous and live in the shadows among millions of people coming and going, they can dig in dumpsters, and beg strangers for money. Those are things you cannot do out in the countryside because there are no dumpsters and no millions of random people to mooch off of.
The periphery of small towns covered in makeshift tents and shanty style campers would disagree with your statement.
These encampments used to be for seasonal workers passing through. But more and more become year-round all the time.
You are certainly correct about the bulk of homeless making their way towards the cities, but there are a growing number of those who don’t.
You say that like rural areas don’t have crop fields.
In all seriousness, I know enough about it to know it’s not too different. Dumpsters and trash cans can be found anywhere for example, though they’re not great sources of food in either place. I was once an anonymous rural example, but it’s for that reason one could look at me and say they don’t think we exist in rural areas. I was lucky enough though to couch hop. Others found solace under a local landmark, but not all rural areas have those, though they might have other things. I felt bad for one who asked me for a ride since I don’t drive.
You don’t know what you are talking about. There are absolutely homeless people in rural areas. While you might not see people begging on the street downtown, there are absolutely people living in their car, camping, or sleeping under a bridge.
I grew up in a very small rural town of 2500 nowhere near a city. There were absolutely homeless people. You seem to have a view of homeless people that only exists in the movies.