A unique Housing First effort in Düsseldorf combines art, newspapers and advocacy to pair the unhoused with apartments. The brainchild of the city’s street paper fiftyfifty, revenues from sales of works by famous artists are used to buy apartments for those who need them most.

Everyone who is a part of the global street paper network knows what a street paper is – that extends to the staff that put each publication together and those who buy them. But the people who truly know what a street paper is – what it means – are those who sell them. Here, a collection of street paper vendors – from Brazil to Finland – tell us, in their own words, what a street paper is, personally to them.

13 German street papers, including INSP members, have banded together to demand that the country’s state and city officials use empty hotels to house those experiencing homelessness amid ongoing restrictions and “stay at home” pleas due to the coronavirus. A petition laying out their concerns has already reached over 2,500 signatures.

Each month we bring you a round-up of front pages that have been sold on the streets by our vendors in 35 countries around the world.

To mark the end of INSP’s 25th anniversary year, we have been asking vendors across the street paper network to write a letter to their 25-year-old self. Today we hear from FiftyFifty vendor Gerhard.

What’s been making the front pages of street papers during the past month?

We’re continuing with our 2019 INSP Awards announcements, and today it’s the Top 10 Entries for Best Cultural Feature.

2019 is well and truly underway, and the new year has brought with it an impressive array of street paper covers to cast the winter blues away!

This year we asked vendors: if you could give a song as a present this Christmas, what would you choose? The result was the INSP Vendor Playlist, which is now available for your listening pleasure. FiftyFifty’s Rudolph enjoys music most while cooking.

Clothes make the man: a principle that vendors of Düsseldorf street paper fiftyfifty had the chance to experience first-hand as the subjects of an unusual photo shoot. Advertising agency Havas collaborated with the world’s leading photo agency Getty Images to create a completely new perception of people living on the street, with the aim of helping to challenge existing prejudices. Their campaign, called “Repicturing Homeless”, has received media coverage all around the world.

Street paper vendors across the world come into contact with many different people everyday. Most of the time, those interactions are pleasant, but not everyone automatically treats vendors with the respect and equality they do everyone else. Arno, who sells FiftyFifty in Düsseldorf, describes one such negative experience from this past year.

Between Halloween and Trump, there’s a frighteneing vibe on this month’s international street paper covers. Thank god for Street Cat Bob…

August’s street paper covers have the Olympic spirit, featuring ‘cuddly lawnmowers’, a homeless wedding, Steven Spielberg, and a cheeky little bit of rickrolling.