How the climate emergency exacerbates homelessness
By Kathryn McKelvey on Building networks of trust in our community will allow us to help each other survive as the climate crisis pushes marginally housed people onto the street.
INSP
As the refugee crisis worsens, street papers offer a path to stability and a hopeful future
By Tony Inglis on As a refugee crisis sweeps the globe, street newspapers around the world have found themselves providing employment to many who are looking to rebuild their lives.
“The issue of homelessness and housing in America has been a tinderbox waiting to catch fire for generations.”
By Israel Bayer on For many people living and working on the front lines of homelessness, COVID-19 represents the deadly serious reality that people already live with every single day.
Notes from street newspaper employees around the world
By Matt Stedmann, Nathan Poppe, and Nikoleta Kosovac on “We all do basically the same [work] but the way the different papers go about it is completely different. The
Life, living, and sex work in Vienna, Austria
By Markus Schauta and Ruth Weismann on Until a few years ago, the corner of Linzer Strasse and Wissgrillgasse was Anna’s workplace. It was there, just past the tobacconists, that she waited for customers. “I would go to a cheap hotel with clients,” says this woman from Vienna, who has been a sex worker for 15 years. “The owners just took money for the room.” The client would pay.
What vendors eat in Oklahoma City
By Nathan Poppe on Helping readers get to know our vendors is a big motivator for putting together street papers. For this story, Oklahoma
A look inside a women’s shelter in Nuremberg, Germany
By Alisa Müller on In the small kitchen next to the wall is a square, plastic-topped table with a bunch of red and white roses. A pack of cocoa, one of noodles, and some fruit, are on the wooden shelves. It looks like a perfectly normal flat-share apart from one thing: there’s a sticker with ‘Room 9’ on the edge of the shelf on the left and ‘Room 10’ on the edge of the one on the right.
Tokuchika Nishi: Dancer and street vendor in Tokyo
By Mariko Kazuki on Tokukicha Nishi, 39, has a purposeful gaze and long hair that he has been growing out since his beloved cat passed away. He became a Big Issue Japan vendor in July 2017. Monday through Friday, Mr. Nishi sells papers from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in front of the ‘Konaka The Flag’ store, near JR Shimbashi Station’s Ginza Exit and from 8 to 10pm in front of the bus terminal at JR Shinjuku Station’s South Exit.
Last rights for the unhoused in Canada
By Simon Cheung on Eventually, JP sat down on a chair, anaemic and lopsided. She was dying—had been for a while now. She was gripped by intense pain, but wouldn’t allow the nearby palliative team to touch her. JP’s neglected breast cancer had manifested into a festering tumor, dripping fetid discharge.
A love story between two Serbian street vendors
By Dragana Nikoletić on Bojana Ivanov Ljubomirov and Petar Jugovic are emotional-business partners, as they call themselves, and they complement each other perfectly. When it comes to selling Liceulice, Bojana is responsible for marketing and Petar takes care of the accounting. They say that they are progressing and gaining confidence through their work.
International issue
By Alastair Boone on I never thought my work with Street Spirit would bring me to Hannover, Germany. But this summer, it did.