If everyone knows, you will not have problems because the press will be there and so will the cops. If you tell only your friends, one of them might be overheard by the wrong people mentioning it. If you tell no one you run the risk of a random attack.
If you want to know what it's like I can recommend some very vivid books. Just as you don't have to go sleep in cold mud while people randomly shoot in your direction to understand the trenches of WWI, neither do you have to "be" homeless to understand it.