Dear Journalists Everywhere,

If you decide to start investigating homelessness by asking homeless people about their experience of shelters, hospitals, rehabs, jails, and every other system that has failed to prevent or stop their homelessness, you should:

-not bring any service provider or other authority with you.  You won't be able to tell, from your own judgment, who is a safe person for your homeless interviewees to talk honestly in front of and who isn't.  Bring other journalists with you, make sure that your phones have a full charge and are on, let your employer and friends know where you're going and have someone texting you for safety, interview people during the day, don't carry cash and don't wear earrings.  Most homeless people aren't dangerous, but since you're not familiar with homeless people as a population, you won't know who is and who isn't.


-expect that anyone who talks to you is going to be retaliated against by the systems that are supposed to be helping.


-expect to hear some of the worst stories that you have ever heard about what people's early lives were like.


-not give out money.  Don't buy people food or anything else.  Tell them that you want to hear what homeless people have to say about all of the above systems.  People who are willing to talk to you will talk your ears off.  Some of them will even say that they don't care if you use their names when you publish what they say because they are so angry about how this population has always been treated.  You shouldn't publish their names, even if they want you to publish them.  They are going to be retaliated against no matter what you do, so all you can do is give them your contact information and ask them to tell you when the retaliation happens so that you can document it.