Contemporary artist Gerhard Richter kickstarted 

’s Housing First effort with his own paintings. Credit: 

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.

Home is where the art is: How Düsseldorf street paper fiftyfifty turns paintings, prints and photographs into permanent shelter

An artist from the Academy of the Street at work. Photo: Katharina Mayer

Street paper fiftyfifty and art professor Katharina Mayer founded the Academy of the Street with people experiencing homelessness. Mayer, an important contemporary photographer, has repeatedly photographed people experiencing homelessness in work, countering the often-negative perception of people experiencing poverty and exclusion with portraits that emphasise the dignity of marginalised communities.

“Pictures are my soul”: inside the Academy of the Street

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