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?
I live in a suburban more than totally rural area but we have lots of trails and bushy areas around. Usually they just set up tents on the side of those trails. Walked past a guy who had an entire cot set up and was just napping on the side of a trail midday the other day. The benches in our area are also less anti-homeless than the ones downtown so I don’t doubt people sleep there at night.
I saw a video of one guy (who isn’t homeless but does urban camping on YouTube) set up camp in the middle of a roundabout with lots of bushes and I think that’s honestly probably one of the best spots where people wouldn’t find you/call cops on you.