When The Big Issue Australia published their first issue, 60,000 Australians were homeless. Now, that number is almost double. New census figures released this month show that there are more than 116,000 people who don’t have a place to call home. For their latest edition, The Big Issue decided to go beyond the statistics to hear from the very people these numbers represent – their vendors. Their stories are illuminating, devastating, and hopeful, and evidence that homelessness is more than not having a place to sleep.

In Germany, 100,000 women have no home of their own and a quarter of all homeless people are women. bodo spent time with four women from Bochum who are facing homelessness. They talked about their experiences and explained why women who live on the streets are ignored.

As the number of people sleeping rough in England has grown, antiquated laws see homeless people criminalised for simply existing.

Hus Forbi vendors hope to show that anyone can find love and happiness, after their wedding day made it into local and national media this summer.