SOUTH BEND â After a year when St. Joseph County saw one of the stateâs largest increases in homelessness, South Bend Mayor James Mueller will soon temporarily hire someone to implement his working groupâs recommendations to address the problem. The work will include another attempt at establishing an intake center, his deputy chief of staff told the cityâs Common Council on Monday night. Jordan Gathers, Muellerâs point person on homelessness issues, briefed council members on recommendations that the mayorâs group came up with during weekly meetings from August through December. There were 516 homeless people in the county on Jan. 29, according to this yearâs federally required Point in Time survey by service providers.