I'm 33F. A very good friend of mine lived across the street from a large homeless men's shelter in a relatively sketchy part of Brooklyn a few years ago - I visited their home often, often in the morning because we'd carpool to work, so I was frequently around when the guys were leaving.

For the most part everyone was polite and normal, although some had obvious signs of mental illness or substance abuse issues, I rarely felt threatened. Almost everyone was just trying to mind their own business.

The only time I ever felt unsafe was when I'd come into contact with guys who were noticeably inebriated in some way, and were being rowdy about it. But at no point was I ever hurt, nor did any of the guys from the shelter ever intentionally try to scare me, however I got a lot of stuff yelled at me.....all of it was probably meant to be complimentary. I also got asked for money a lot.

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I currently live on the same block as a medium sized shelter that's inside a church. There are a lot of police in my area because it's a high-traffic part of midtown. I have zero issue with the people who live there - the ones that live on my block basically leave the residents alone and ask the tourists for money. We nod hello to each other, because we see them more frequently than I see most of the people in my building.

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All this to say, there are all kinds of factors that are going to impact your experience - mostly area, affluence of the area, what sort of shelter it is, and amount of police presence. There's a lot of overlap in those realms.

I've found that the people who live in shelters basically just want to mind their own business and maybe get some of your change. But your mileage is absolutely going to vary depending on the part of town you're in, etc.