How do you all check and deal with homeless that may be in some places you want to explore? Like small buildings, and abandoned houses. I've had a close call with a quite aggressive (assuming homeless) man in an abandoned drive in theatre in town. I had parked next to the camera house and sitting in my car about to get out when he came out throwing shit at my car yelling something i couldn't understand. Let's just say I made a hasty retreat. So what can i do to avoid this? Especially at night.

Sounds like a freak encounter, and there's probably something more that was happening there. I'm not sure I'd immediately assume that was a homeless person.

First thought, don't go at night.

I do a lot of my exploring in cities and have run across quite a few homeless. I would definitely agree that if you don't want to encounter a pissed off homeless dude don't go at night. Imagine being woken up in your safe abode by some punk with a camera. I'd be pissed too.

But of you do encounter them. 90% of the time they just don't want you ruining their "home" or ratting them out. Just be respectful and realize that they don't want any trouble or eyes looking at the location. Tell them what you doing and if they tell you to leave, calmly walk out.

Don't go into people's homes uninvited.
You might find the ultimate reward...

I spent over 20 years working in downtown Las Vegas near where all of the homeless shelters are. For those who aren't aware, Vegas has a large homeless population. The homeless shelters can only house a limited number of people so large encampments spring up for a week or two before the police roust them. The encampment packs up and moves a few blocks one way or the other and the process starts over.

My route from home to work was right through this area. It wasn't at all unusual to see a homeless person shouting and gesturing at passing cars. Other times people would be arguing quite loudly but no one was there to argue with. Unfortunately a significant percentage of homeless people have mental illness of various intensities. We often think that homeless people are just folks who are down on their luck, but mental illness is a major factor for their homelessness.

Abby Normal

In my 13 years of doing this, coming across people in buildings (homeless or otherwise) has been incredibly rare. Those rare times I have, they just want to make sure you're not going to hurt them. "oh look, more white people coming to take pictures of garbage"

Offering a smoke or a candy bar goes a long way.

^Yes, they are human too.

Every time before I enter an abandoned building I check to see if anybody seems to be around and then before entering I toss a small rock or make some type of noise that I'm entering then wait to hear if anything moves inside. If not, I go in but if I hear something I usually announce myself and that I mean no harm and am just there for pictures. I've run into a few explorers by doing that that, but never any homeless... yet.

Carrying a pack of cigarettes in your bag is helpful if you're over 18.

Posted by Trout na bout I do a lot of my exploring in cities and have run across quite a few homeless. I would definitely agree that if you don't want to encounter a pissed off homeless dude don't go at night. Imagine being woken up in your safe abode by some punk with a camera. I'd be pissed too. But of you do encounter them. 90% of the time they just don't want you ruining their "home" or ratting them out. Just be respectful and realize that they don't want any trouble or eyes looking at the location. Tell them what you doing and if they tell you to leave, calmly walk out.

Austin also has an abnormally large homeless population, if you are exploring in rural areas of Texas it's not much of a problem. East Texas does have a bit of a meth issue but that's about it.

Homeless people are generally harmless. I would be more cautious of small groups of random people.

Just bring boombox Ben Franklin w you and all is good.

Homeless people just want to be left alone. I often don't open closed doors in an abandoned building, especially on anything above the ground floor. The encounters I have had have been mellow. Hoping it stays that way.

I always just take a bit of caution. While some people found living in abandoned buildings will get aggressive, I've found it's usually because they're startled by the fact that someone is there.

Carrying around a pack of cigs to bum out couldn't hurt either, even if you don't smoke, just something of a peace offering to say "Hey man, I'm not trying to mess with you, just exploring"

Generally though, I find that while the homeless population may be struggling a bit more than the rest of us, most of them aren't savage beasts ready to kill any old urbexer that encroaches on their territory but rather just people trying to do their best to survive with what they can.

That being said, carrying some kind of self-protection definitely wouldn't hurt safety-wise

Most homeless people mean no harm. A few are crazy. They usually piss off when they realise I can out crazy them any day.

Posted by yokes "oh look, more white people coming to take pictures of garbage"

Hehehe

Some of them are actually really cool and will give you a tour of a place if you shoot them some cash. But if they are aggressive like that the best decision is to leave.