Real Change expands to become first weekly street paper

And his 10-year effort to raise awareness of homeless issues while offering employment to homeless people has brought focus to the topic -- focus that's about to intensify.


		Grant M. Haller / P-I
	Tim Harris, executive director, checks out a proof of today's front page, which makes Real Change the nation's only weekly street newspaper.

Real Change, an advocacy newspaper for homeless issues, will roll out today as a newly formatted, ramped-up, newsy weekly, becoming the nation's only weekly street paper.

Harris, the paper's founder and executive director, credits its growth and success to responsive readers, advocates -- and the homeless themselves, who have sold increasing numbers of papers.

"For me, it's an incredible feeling to have homeless people come up to you and say, 'Hey, this makes a huge difference in my life,' " Harris said. "It still chokes me up. It's incredibly rewarding."

Since being launched as a monthly in August 1994, Real Change has grown from one staff member -- Harris -- to 12, with several recently added for the weekly edition. Its circulation -- mostly through direct street-corner sales from homeless vendors -- has doubled since 1998, from 244,353 to 467,588 last year. Its every-other-week circulation is 18,000 copies.

Harris added, "It's hard to stay biweekly when you sell two-thirds of the paper the first week."

The number of homeless people selling the paper, at $1 an issue, with the vendor keeping 70 cents, has also grown. Harris said there were 40 to 50 "regulars" selling Real Change in 1994. Now there are nearly 800 over the course of a year, with about 250 "regulars."

Fred Spruitenberg, 55, is one of them. Yesterday, he stood in the sun near Pike Place Market, greeting people who plunked their dollars down for Real Change with a side of conversation.

"A lot of times you don't make minimum wage, but other times, you can make $6 to $10 an hour," said Spruitenberg, who was laid off at a Heinz ketchup factory in Stockton, Calif., four years ago. Accustomed to manual labor such as loading trucks and digging ditches, Spruitenberg was hindered in his job search when his leg was broken last year after being struck by a car.


		Joshua Trujillo / P-I
	Edward McClain hawks copies of Real Change in the University District yesterday. Formerly homeless, McClain has sold the paper for 10 years.

"My needs are small," he said. "I stay at a shelter, so I don't pay rent. It's hard to find a job when you don't have an address."

Harris, who as a 17-year-old runaway came to appreciate homeless people for their "honesty" and "realness," said Real Change has helped shape opinions and defuse misperceptions about homelessness and its causes, but there still remains much to do. The paper successfully lobbied for a state Housing Trust Fund, but homelessness remains a critical social problem in the Puget Sound area, where unemployment and the high cost of housing continue to create hurdles.

Vendors themselves tell the story. A 2003 survey showed 63 percent of vendors were homeless, with 33 percent self-reporting as recently homeless. The survey showed 68 percent of the vendors were white, 13 percent black, 10 percent listed as other, with 7 percent Native Americans, and 1 percent each for Asian and Hispanics. Women were 26 percent of the vendors, and 45 percent reported some form of disability. Nearly 45 percent of the vendors were aged 48 to 62, with 37 percent between the ages of 38 and 47.

Most of the paper's $550,000 budget comes from direct street sales. Private contributors donated about $190,000 last year, while about 40 percent of revenue comes from circulation and ads.

Local foundations such as the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the United Way and the Lucky 7 Backus Family Foundation have pledged $165,000 over three years to help pay for increased staffing.

While homelessness is a regional issue, the paper will continue to be sold mostly in the Seattle area. "Enterprising vendors" are also selling Real Change on the Eastside, but to a lesser extent, Harris said. Vendors are allowed to sell the paper on public sidewalks, although in Seattle and on the Eastside, a desire to sell near heavily trafficked malls or supermarkets has required negotiated permission with merchants -- not always with success, he said.

"In a country as affluent as the United States, we should not have homelessness," Harris said. "It really pisses me off that we do. It's getting worse ... the division of wealth keeps getting wider."

P-I reporter Debera Carlton Harrell can be reached at 206-448-8326 or deberaharrell@seattlepi.com

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