Coronavirus has even upended democracy. In a recent Wisconsin Democratic Primary vote, very little accommodation was made to ensure people could get out to vote, and do so safely. It’s a worry ahead of an important Presidential election set for later this year. If the current circumstances continue, the situation may end up actively stopping people from voting. But the US already has all sorts of different restrictions hampering the ability of its citizens to vote. Two Contributor vendors explain how their past felony charges bar them from exercising the franchise.

INSP North America director Israel Bayer calls for short-term relief and sweeping changes from the US federal government as the coronavirus pandemic ravages the homeless community and plunges those in uncertain housing predicaments into greater uncertainty. It is an opportunity, Bayer writes, “to create a national housing justice movement that addresses both systemic racism and the need to provide a safe place to call home for all our citizens.”

In this instalment of his weekly column, Tim Harris, founding director of Seattle street paper Real Change, wonders why it took the crisis initiated by the spread of coronavirus for city officials to realise that the measures had to be taken to help the homeless population into shelter. In Seattle, as in other parts of the world, the pandemic has shown that the way, if not the will, to help those in need was there all along.

Quiver Watts, editor of San Francisco’s Street Sheet, writes that the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak not only poses a greater risk to the city’s population living in poverty, but argues that they will be made “a convenient scapegoat to take attention off the real failures in the city’s emergency response”.

As recovery support groups across the US cancel and move online due to COVID-19 measures, an increase in relapses could compound demands on health care providers.

Israel Bayer, director of INSP North America, provides context for why the official response to the coronavirus outbreak in the region is failing those who are homeless and living in poverty, and writes about why systemic injustices mean that, amidst this health crisis, that community is being left behind.

Street Roots executive director Kaia Sand sends a dispatch from Oregon after visiting a small homeless camp housing a handful of the Portland street paper’s vendors who have become proactive about safeguarding themselves and staying healthy as the coronavirus panic sweeps the Pacific Northwest United States.

With coronavirus cases across the world now at well over 100,000, Italy is in lockdown and the US west coast is bearing the brunt of Covid-19’s appearance in America. INSP spoke again with street paper staff about the effect it is having on their organisations and vendors, with particular attention given to how staff are assisting vendors to stay safe and healthy.

In history and in pop culture, the full moon continually sparks feelings of fear, curiosity, and excitement. In the latest addition to ‘Life on the Streets’, the Street Roots series that tackles issues people facing homelessness experience, vendors speak on their own encounters with the ever-mysterious full moon.

The Big Issue has been reaching out to vendors across the street paper network to get the inside scoop on the cities they know best. This instalment features Street Sense vendor Wendell talking about Washington DC in the US.

Portland’s Street Roots has a periodic column about the parts of homelessness most people don’t talk about. Some vendors say they’ve seen public transport inspectors profiling homeless people. Here they talk about their experiences.

According to Chicago street paper StreetWise, one of its goals is to be entertaining while highlighting issues affecting its vendors and giving them a voice. Reviewing Oscar-nominated films has become an annual opportunity to give them a chance to tell their own story in a unique way. This year, a cast of 17 vendors weigh in on some of the films up for honours at the 92nd Academy Awards.

#VendorWeek is a time to celebrate vendors but, such is the nature of their lives, sometimes tragedy strikes, and it is good to remember that, and the people that tragedy touches, too. Earlier this year, Montréal-based paper L’Itinéraire lost one of their vendors. Stéphane Avard was a bright and loving person worn thin by years of homelessness, and his story speaks to the relationship between sleeping rough and mental illness. The magazine’s editor wrote a touching tribute.

2020 will be a momentous year in US politics. Will Trump evade impeachment to be re-elected? Will the Democrats find a big enough character to run against him? To measure the pulse in the US capital, two Street Sense vendors from Washington DC, with very different opinions, give their take on the state of the nation.

Real Change celebrate #VendorWeek with their third annual Day of Heroes, a chance for local celebrities to partner with Real Change vendors to try for themselves to sell the Seattle papers.

There is surely no more apt a time to announce your Vendor of the Year than to coincide with #VendorWeek. That’s what Ohio-based paper Toledo Streets have done. Its vendor Shaun “Rooster” Tinch exhibits all the qualities that the street paper hopes to inspire, says its vendor manager Claire McKenna.

Some residents of Downtown Oakland might recognise Derrick Hayes from the mural of him that adorns the building at 14th and Franklin; others might know him as the familiar face that sells Street Spirit from his various pitches in the area. He is a man who radiates friendliness, treasures the community around him and who talks candidly and emotionally about the journey that has brought him to the present moment.

Portland’s Street Roots has a periodic column about the parts of homelessness most people don’t talk about. That homeless people are dangerous is a clear misconception, vendors say. And for some on the streets, it’s housed people who are feared.

Dwd sells Street Roots from a pitch shared with other vendors near the Starbucks at Northwest Couch Street and 11th Avenue in Portland with the help of his trusty canine friend Kephirah. Dwd is enjoying his work as a Street Roots vendor and is learning about photojournalism with the organisation’s help. He hopes to engage with the public about the great work that the paper is doing to support vendors as they work together with the community.

Days before Christmas, communities across the US joined together to memorialise those who had died while homeless that year. INSP North America director Israel Bayer summed up the tragedies that have beset countless homeless Americans, while a group of the country’s street papers collaborated on making sure these remembrances, and the people they were about, were noticed.

Julie B. has made a name for herself in the Contributor office for being determined and resilient. Here, she reflects on her Native American heritage, talks about the hard work being done by street paper vendors and discusses what life is like with a brain cancer diagnosis.

Portland’s Street Roots has a periodic column about the parts of homelessness most people don’t talk about. When you’re on your feet all day, wearing tatty, worn out and often sodden shoes, and then sharing space with groups of people in shelters that aren’t exactly kept in the best state, it’s no wonder people on the street struggle with maintaining healthy feet. Street Roots spoke to vendors about this often overlooked problem.

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’s instalment features Street Roots vendors Nettie and Mark.

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 three StreetWise vendors.

Four US street papers have collaborated on ‘The Right to a Home’ series with non-profit media organisation Law@theMargins and its Community Based News Room project. The stories produced amplify voices from within the homeless community, exploring how homelessness is being addressed at a local level across the country.

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. In this instalment, four Real Change vendors write about life at 25.

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. This instalment in the series features One Step Away vendors, three of which submitted their letters in their handwritten form.

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, L’Itinéraire vendor Maxime writes words of encouragement to his younger self.