HOWELL - On a recent unusually warm winter day, a handful of people milled about a camp site situated about a half-mile off a bustling stretch of Route 9 in Howell.

The shantytown carved out of a township-owned section of woods has all the makings of a weekend camping getaway: a pantry lined with food, a chapel set for Sunday prayers and spacious tents stocked with propane-fueled space heaters.

But for the nine people who live there through bone-chilling winter nights and scorching summer days, this is home.

Most of the residents were once working class people who fell on hard times. Some struggle with mental illnesses. Regardless, they are among the more than 700 homeless people living in Monmouth and Ocean counties and nearly 9,000 in New Jersey.

Unlike urban areas of New Jersey, the face of homelessness in the suburban enclaves of Monmouth and Ocean counties is hidden from plain view. It's tucked in woods along stretches of railroad tracks and highways, in cars in parking lots of giant retail stores and in vacant motels.

Homeless advocates say people resort to these conditions because beds in shelters are limited and resources are sparse.

"It's quite easy to become homeless," Steve Brigham, a minister and homeless advocate, said in a recent interview. "There's a lot of (homeless) people just because of the economics. If they're a single individual, you have to have three minimum-wage jobs now to afford the basics. Most of them don't have family to fall back on or something else to support them."

Nine people live in a township-owned plot of woods off Route 9 in Howell. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

People live in the woods in Toms River, South Toms River and Lakewood, Brigham said. In Howell, there are two homeless encampments in different areas of the township.

The township's manager, Jeff Mayfield, said officials have agreed to let the homeless residents live in the woods if they keep the number living there to a minimum. Currently, nine people live in one camp, and another two live in one near the Howell-Farmingdale border, just off Interstate 195.

"They're allowed to stay down there. There haven't been any problems at all," Mayfield said. "It's a tough situation and we're trying to handle it as responsibly and compassionately as we can."

Brigham, commonly referred to as "Minister Steve," is among them.

He's the de-facto leader of both Howell camps, mainly because he's the only one with a driver's license and has the contacts to acquire resources for the camps.

Brigham, a contractor for a high-voltage electrical company for 17 years, traded in the steady job and house in 2006 for a tent in the woods.

Now, he said he's willing to maintain the lifestyle - as long as he stays healthy - until the cost of living comes down to a point where someone working a minimum-wage job can live comfortably.

"I think lowering the cost of living, the cost of housing, I think that's the answer," Brigham said. "There has to be a different housing strata for every income level. That's a fair society."

Finding peace in the woods

Most of the people living in the woods in Monmouth and Ocean counties once called Lakewood's Tent City home.

After a contentious battle with the township, Tent City closed down in July 2014. The township agreed to give the more than 100 people who lived at the encampment off Cedar Bridge Avenue temporary housing. But now most are back in the woods, Brigham said.

One of those residents is Jack.

A homeless encampment sits off a stretch of Route 9 in Howell. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Jack, who did not wish to give his last name for privacy reasons, lives in a family-sized tent draped in tarps tied from two trees. A hand-painted wood frame with his first name painted over trees and a massive sun marks his territory. A blue tarp is his front door.

He lives next door to where a ferocious pit bull stands guard at a fenced-in camping area.

Jack found himself in the woods after he went through a rough divorce and was overcome with child support bills, he said. He couldn't afford to live in his apartment and met Minister Steve, who offered him a spot in the Lakewood Tent City.

Jack said he could sleep on a relative's couch for $100 a month, but he's a recovering alcoholic and the environment is not conducive to his sobriety, nor does it have any privacy.

"There's really nothing you can do," he said. "You either go out in the street and steal and stuff like that and you get put in jail or wind up in someplace like this. I don't get in trouble or anything like that.

"I've been in jail before," he continued. "I'd rather be out here taking care of myself, trying to make some money, doing what you're supposed to be doing."

Jack works part-time as a custodian at a school in Lakewood. One recent afternoon, he was tucked in his tent reading a novel while waiting for a coworker to pick him up for work.

"It's a nice place," he said of the encampment. But, if he had it his way, it wouldn't be home.

"There's nothing wrong with me," Jack said. "I'm capable of working, it's just - I can't find employment. And then you get these jobs, and they want to pay you $7 or $8 bucks an hour."

Camp conditions

Amenities at the Howell encampment are limited.

There's a pump tapped into a groundwater source, but a clog prevents it from working correctly. To bathe, residents resort to a sponge bath. Home-cooked food gets donated on a weekly basis, but a pantry lined with non-perishables is the source of food in between those meals. Articles of clothing are draped over lines throughout the camp.

On Sunday, Minister Steve holds prayer sessions in a spacious, heated tent called "The Chapel." It's filled with a hodgepodge of wooden benches. A Christmas tree sits in the front near a podium and a wreath dangles from the apex of the tent.

Residents are not forced to attend church services, Brigham said. They can also find solace in the "Prayer Garden," a circular clearing in the woods about 25 feet lined with stone benches. A single, bare tree sits in the middle. Its branches are dangling with prayers written on cards by people from outside the camp.

Cathy, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, has lived in a tent in the woods in Howell since July. She had worked for a bank for 23 years, earning $19 an hour. Cathy said she was laid off and people willing to work for less money were hired in her place.

She collected unemployment and searched for another job.

"There wasn't really too much available, especially that paid (well)," Cathy said. "I would have to be working three or four full-time jobs just to support myself and pay the bills."

The unemployment went dry. Cathy had been caring for a family member, who then died. The inheritance was taken by her uncle, she said.

Cathy lost her condo. She had no parents to fall back on. They died when she was young. And she never married or had children. She lived by the beach in Manasquan and at a rest stop on the Garden State Parkway before finding Minister Steve and getting a tent in the woods.

"It's very peaceful," she said. "Just to be able to sit back in the woods and watch the animals. You can think. You can read a book without being disturbed."

No 'one-size-fits-all' solution

Brigham, and other experts, say the solution is more affordable housing and more shelters.

According to a survey conducted by Monarch Housing Associates, at least 774 homeless people live in Monmouth and Ocean counties. That survey was conducted on Jan. 26, 2016, just a couple days after a massive snow storm. Homeless advocates say the number is likely low because surveyors had trouble reaching homeless people due to poor road conditions.

There are three homeless shelters in Monmouth County and one in Ocean County, according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Community Affairs, Tammori Petty.

Where there's a lack of services for the homeless, faith-based groups have stepped in to fill the void, advocates say.

Carol Latif, executive director for Ocean County Hunger Relief, said homeless people living in tents in the woods isn't the answer.

"The longer you isolate yourself in a tent, the more difficult it is to get back and have a job and get a real life," Latif said.

She points to her organization as an example of how to best help the homeless -- a one-stop shop where people can get groceries, clothing, job training and other social services.

There's no "one-size-fits-all" solution to ending homelessness, said Jay Everette, a member of the Monarch Housing Associates.

"Two people with the exact same (housing) situation may have different networks and different resources and may experience it very differently," he said.

He said one of the solutions is to get people off the streets, out of shelters or hotels, and into permanent housing with their own leases.

"Put people in a position where they have a better chance to solve and address barriers they may have in maintaining their housing," Everette said. "It makes sense, but it's not universally expected."

Steve Brigham says tiny homes (pictured above) is one way to combat homelessness. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Brigham points to tiny homes as one way to equip lower-income residents with more permanent living arrangements.

The homes with lofts are smaller than trailers but have the same basic amenities: running water, bathrooms and a kitchen. Heat comes from a plug-in space heater.

The issue is many towns have zoning laws that outlaw tiny-house villages, Brigham said.

"The tiny home is the key to it," he said. "Minimum rent starts at $1,000 for an apartment. Then you have the utilities on top of that. It's just too expensive for someone who is low-skilled. To be a just society, we have to bring down the cost of living - the cost of housing - so a person can afford everything at a salary of a minimum wage job."

Affordable housing advocates recently won a major battle in January when the state Supreme Court ruled that thousands of more units for low-income residents must be built to make up for the 16 years that the state didn't address those needs. Experts estimate the state could be on the hook for more than 200,000 housing units.

In the meantime, people like Brigham and Latif are the beacons of hope for the homeless in Monmouth and Ocean counties.

"I'm going to fight (homelessness) as long as it needs to be fought and I can still fight it," Brigham said.

And for the duration of the fight, he said, he'll be in the woods.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.