As seen in any major metropolitan city, vagrancy is a problem that most ordinary folk either pay no attention to or actively try to avoid. What most people don't realise though is that the homeless person you may walk past trying to ignore has a good set of eyes and ears. 

Forming a generally untapped information source, the vagrants of the city have an ear to the ground in most boroughs and if you are willing to put up with the drunken ramblings (and the smell) you can sometimes get some useful information. Most of the 'facts' the press have garnered about the comings and goings of the Magician have come from carefully selected tidbits of information from 'un-named sources' - generally a euphemism for drunken fireside chatter passed on for a bottle of booze. Some people, such as Wesley Carrington, know that not all that is talked about by burning oil drums is the ramblings of madmen. 

Sometimes the people we try to ignore are those in the best position to get the information you need.