Jan. 31--She knows him simply as Joe. Every morning, he stops by her coffee shop, never failing to ask how her husband, her son, her mother are doing.

"He remembers them all by name," said Dee Dee Cate, owner of Daddy Cate's Coffees in downtown Brunswick.

Typically, Joe will get a free cup of coffee, pick up a magazine, sit at an outside table or a corner seat, and read. After he's finished, he returns the magazine, thanks Cate, and leaves, heading most likely for the library or Mary Ross Park Waterfront Park.

"It's pretty much the same thing every day," Cate said.

Although Joe is a regular, he is not an average customer. His hair is scruffy, his face is weathered, his clothes are worn.

"He's homeless," Cate explains. "It's hard, you know. I give him a cup of coffee and do what I can for him, but there is only so much that can be done."

In his circumstance, Joe is not alone. The streets of Glynn County and downtown blocks of Brunswick have long served as a makeshift habitat for homeless individuals, though it is a reality often hidden from view, said Glenn Queener, captain of the Brunswick Salvation Army.

Since August, Queener reports, the Salvation Army has seen a steady rise in people at the homeless shelter. Currently, the shelter is at 130 percent capacity, a fact that can be blamed on both a slow economy and increased awareness about the facility's services, he said.

"This isn't a new issue for the city," Queener said. "But it has become more in the forefront of people's minds lately. But more and more people are finding themselves homeless. As harder times hit, it affects people across the board, even some who had steady jobs, even masters degrees."

That was a truth recently unearthed by city officials. A survey taken last year of the number of homeless individuals living in the county found that 71 individuals could be counted officially as such, although the survey found 102 individuals labeled with chronic housing troubles, said Eric VanOtteren, Brunswick director of community development. He said results for the 2009 survey, taken Jan. 25, are still being tallied.

The number includes a variety of homeless individuals and circumstances, and pinning down exact figures can be difficult because of the nature of the subject, VanOtteren said.

Of the individuals found, the degree of homelessness varied, going from individuals who are transient homeless -- meaning they come to town and leave after a few days -- to people who are chronically homeless. The majority of homeless individuals in Glynn County can be counted as precariously homeless, meaning they rotate between a friend or family member's home, but have no permanent residence and would be living on the streets if asked to leave, VanOtteren said.

From what Lee Melton, shelter care coordinator for Gateway Behavioral Health System, can tell, there is no specific race or age group that is more prone to becoming homeless.

It's a problem that crosses most all demographics, said Melton, leader of the homeless census in the county the past two years.

When dealing with issues of homelessness, there are no set variants that can be laid. Every case is different, every situation new, Melton said.

Some of individuals have been homeless for months, even years others only recently found themselves down on their luck.

Many homeless individuals have mental health issues or addictions, while others simply prefer the comfort of the streets, Melton said.

"It's hard to pin it down to one type of person or one situation," Melton said. "It affects people from all groups and walks of life."

Homelessness is an ongoing problem for every community, "and it always will be," Mayor Bryan Thompson said.

In Brunswick, the number of homeless individuals in the area has held steady over the years and the faces of these wandering souls have become familiar to downtown merchants, said Thompson.

From her perch inside the Brunswick library, Michelle Johnson has seen it, too. She often watches homeless residents congregate on the building's front steps and benches, or inside at the computer terminals. The library is neutral ground, a warm and clean place where homeless individuals can spend an afternoon reading or scanning the Internet.

The staff there is more than happy to welcome any interested patron, homeless or otherwise, Johnson said.

"Some people come in and some you know they are homeless, and others come in and you don't," said Johnson, marketing director for the library. "But either way, we treat them all the same. People are people. And the library is open to all people."

Homelessness, more often than not, is tucked away into the corners of the city and into the backs of people's minds. It goes unnoticed until it is, in fact, noticed.

That was the case a few months ago, when a few homeless individuals became animated in downtown and raised concerns with merchants, Thompson said. By no means, he added, is the city or county overrun with vagrants, but the issue is prevalent and solutions are now being sought.

"We can't turn our backs or only help these people in the good times," Thompson said. "We have to be there and deal with this as a community."

A number of programs and organizations are in place throughout the county to help cope with the issue. Several agencies offer aid, food and housing to homeless individuals, such as the Salvation Army, Amity House and Sparrow's Nest.

The city is also examining transitional housing programs and temporary shelter options that can be implemented in emergency cases.

"We are responding to this issue in pieces," VanOtteren said. "All situations of homelessness are different, and it can be difficult to target just one solution. But within the city, we are doing what we can do to target this problem, to help who we can and do what we can."

As the economy slumps, city officials and community leaders are working to prevent an increase in the number homeless residents as individuals face home foreclosures and job loss.

Already, Mary Hogan has seen more abused women and children turning to her services at Amity House for assistance. While they may not require shelter, these are people in need of some help between paychecks, the director of Amity House said.

Such situations are expected to not only continue, but to worsen in the county and the nation, said Hogan.

"We do help homeless women and children when they need it, and we have been seeing a little more of that," Hogan said. "The trend we are seeing the most of, though, is people needing help with daily things, with gas and groceries. People are having a harder time making ends meet and making it from pay day to pay day."

The economy isn't the only factor that could create a high wave of homelessness in Glynn County. With Gov. Sonny Perdue looking to lower state spending and close Savannah Regional Hospital, a state institution for the mentally ill, patients with nowhere to go -- and counties with no way to support them -- could be left to their own defenses.

For some, that will mean a life without a permanent home, Thompson said.

"That is a real concern we are facing," Thompson said of the hospital's possible closure.

Decades ago, Thompson watched as similar budgetary crisis' hit the nation and mental institutions were closed to save money. When that happened, states allocated funds to communities to help deal with the influx of mentally ill residents. Similar strategies have been suggested in Perdue's proposed plan.

Only time will tell how that plays out, though, Thompson said.

"In some communities, they made it work and did well," he said. "In others, it didn't. Most homeless people have mental illness issues, and I think some of those folks from Savannah will filter down this way. The city will do what it can to help. We'll just do what we can."

Who's homeless

A recent survey of homelessness in Glynn County found that 102 individuals in the area have chronic housing difficulties, with 71 being labeled as officially homeless. The number may actually be higher because obtaining exact figures can be difficult due to the nature of the subject, said Eric VanOtteren, director of the Brunswick Community Development Authority.

The survey found that:

--23 individuals are precariously homeless, meaning they are on the line between being homeless and not.

--37 individuals are sheltered homeless, meaning they have a temporary place to stay at night, such as a homeless shelter.

--31 individuals are unsheltered homeless, meaning they have no place to stay or are transient homeless.

--11 individuals have an undetermined housing status.

--54 of the 71 individuals in the survey counted themselves as homeless.

--32 said they have been homeless for 90 days or less.

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs recently conducted a survey, "Homeless in Georgia" to get a glimpse of the issue statewide. It concluded that:

--An estimated 100 to 500 are homeless in Glynn County.

--1 to 25 emergency and transitional beds are available for the homeless in Glynn County at any given time.

--An estimated 75,000 people are homeless at some point in Georgia each year.

--An estimated 20,000 people are homeless at any point in time in Georgia.

To see more of The Brunswick News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thebrunswicknews.com/. Copyright © 2009, The Brunswick News, Ga. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Copyright 2009