A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
story and photos by Giles Clasen
Holly Norris, 73, has lived unsheltered for more than a decade. Her story cuts through one of the most common myths about homelessness: that people living on the streets choose to be there.
Holly Sue Norris counts blankets the way other people count hours of sleep.
As winter settles in, staying alive outside often comes down to layers and luck.
by NS
The following article is part of INSP’s Changing the Narrative series. It has been written as the result of the new journalism training academy, established in 2025 by INSP to provide people with direct experience of homelessness and poverty the opportunity to learn about journalism and the media, and to enhance their storytelling and written abilities. The training academy has two ambitions: to challenge media and public misconceptions about homelessness;
story and photo by Cathleen Williams
“I cannot live without my freedom, and I will not live without freedom,” says Street Sheet vendor Jessica in Sacramento. Here, she sits with Felipe.
Freedom of movement is a fundamental right of residents on American soil. The right extends to all, including people who live outside on our streets and open public spaces.
It’s a bedrock principle, embedded in our consciousness and our culture,
by David Pentland
The following article is part of INSP’s Changing the Narrative series. It has been written as the result of the new journalism training academy, established in 2025 by INSP to provide people with direct experience of homelessness and poverty the opportunity to learn about journalism and the media, and to enhance their storytelling and written abilities. The training academy has two ambitions: to challenge media and public misconceptions about homelessness;
story and photos by Madi Koesler
With D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) now under federal control and the National Guard coming to D.C., the fate of people living in encampments remains up in the air.
During a press conference on 11 August, President Donald Trump said that law enforcement had already begun to clear encampments, but Street Sense has been unable to confirm this,
by Janita-Marja Juvonen
I see them in my mind’s eye, but also in real life. I can’t simply block them out or overlook them: the many people who have similar experiences today and have to fight for survival, just like I did in the past. These memories make me feel helpless – as helpless as I was back then. This helplessness sometimes makes me sad and often angry. Because on many issues,
by Amy Romer
Garth Mullins has spent years telling other people’s stories — amplifying voices of drug users through his award-winning podcast Crackdown and organizing with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU). Now, he’s turned the lens on himself.
His memoir, Crackdown: Surviving and Resisting the War on Drugs, is not a victory lap or redemption tale; it’s something rarer: a grounded,
by Franziska Wild
A move away from housing first solutions to homelessness. Further criminalization of sleeping outdoors. Cuts to housing programs. These are some of the changes advocates and people experiencing homelessness worry could be on the horizon as President Donald Trump moves back into the White House, backed by a Republican-controlled Congress.
During Donald Trump’s first presidential term, he appointed officials who rejected evidence-based housing first approaches to homelessness and cut programs aimed at all low-income Americans.
35 years ago in 1989: San Francisco was in its first decade of mass homelessness since the Depression era.
The City opened emergency congregate shelters a few years earlier, but it would later turn away already homeless people to accommodate housed people displaced by the Loma Prieta earthquake.
That same year, Street Sheet printed its first issue. The newsletter—originally an internal memo for members of the advocacy organization Coalition on Homelessness—was printed on 8½” x 11” paper,
by Jack Bragen
When I was young, in my 20s, I took pride in being able to get letters to the editor published. For a young adult with severe psychiatric illness, a letter to the editor in a paper is pretty good, but I wanted more. I really wanted to become a writer. Occasionally I submitted stories to publications, and considering the level of the writing I produced back then, I stood little or no chance of getting something accepted.
