About Hempels

Hempels

HEMPELS is the street magazine for Schleswig-Holstein, published monthly since February 1996 by the nonprofit association HEMPELS e.V. in Kiel. Sold by around 220 vendors in Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg, Husum, Neumünster, and many smaller towns across the state, the magazine gives people in poverty and at the margins of society a low-threshold access to work: vendors buy the magazine and sell it at a profit, earning an income with dignity. With a circulation of 21,000 copies, HEMPELS has represented the interests of poor and marginalized people in Schleswig-Holstein for 30 years, combining journalism with social work: the association behind the magazine runs a café, a soup kitchen, Germany's first Trinkräume (drinking rooms), a social service, and the state's first Housing First project.

Overview

HEMPELS appears monthly as the Straßenmagazin for Schleswig-Holstein, with branches in Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg, and Husum and partners in Neumünster and many smaller cities. The street-paper model is simple and effective: homeless and poor people buy the magazine at a low price and sell it on the street at the cover price, keeping the difference. For around 220 vendors, this provides a low-threshold access to work, a daily structure, and social contacts, without the barriers of the regular labor market.

The magazine's editorial program covers the topics that matter to its vendors and readers: poverty, homelessness, social policy, and the life of the marginalized, alongside culture, local affairs, and the stories of the people who sell the paper. As a member of the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), founded in 1994 on the initiative of London's Big Issue, HEMPELS participates in the global exchange of images, experiences, and ideas among street-paper publishers. The association also offers online publications in various formats and educational programs in schools and other social contexts.

History

The first issue of HEMPELS appeared in February 1996, inspired by the success of street papers in other cities. The nonprofit association HEMPELS e.V., based in Kiel, was founded in 1997 to carry the project. From the beginning, the editorial work was shaped by the participation and responsibility of homeless people themselves, and the work quickly grew beyond the purely editorial: a club café was founded, on whose basis the innovation of the Trinkräume became possible.

In 1999, HEMPELS opened the association café "Zum Sofa" in the Schaßstraße in Kiel, a protected space and alternative to staying on the street. In 2003, in cooperation with the city of Kiel, the association opened Germany's first Trinkraum, a supervised indoor space where people can consume alcohol in dignity, accepted as a model for dealing with alcohol consumers in public space. The concept has since been adopted in Kiel-Gaarden and in other German cities and countries. In 2014, the HEMPELS Foundation was established under the umbrella of the Diakonie Foundation Schleswig-Holstein. Since 2018, the foundation has rented twelve apartments to homeless people following the Housing First principle, soon to be 21. As a shareholder of the Kieler Anker gGmbH, HEMPELS participates in securing diverse social aid offerings in the state capital.

Coverage and Content

The magazine's journalism gives a voice to those who are rarely heard in mainstream media. Poverty and homelessness reporting documents the reality of life at the margins: the causes of homelessness, the gaps in the social safety net, and the political decisions that affect the poor. Social-policy coverage follows the debates in the state parliament and the municipalities, with HEMPELS appearing as a recognized voice: in August 2026, the association submitted a written statement to the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag's interior and legal committee on planned changes to the state's prison laws, drawing on its decades of work with marginalized people.

Cultural content and local affairs broaden the appeal: the magazine covers the cultural life of Schleswig-Holstein's cities, portrays interesting people, and reports on the events that shape the region. The vendors' own stories are a recurring feature, giving readers a personal connection to the people who sell them the paper. These portraits do double work: they humanize the abstract statistics of poverty and homelessness, and they give the vendors themselves a public voice, a rare experience for people who are otherwise spoken about rather than listened to. The magazine's editorial principle, shaped from the beginning by the participation of homeless people in the newsroom, treats its vendors not as charity cases but as colleagues and co-producers. The online publications extend the journalism into digital formats, while the educational offerings bring the topics of poverty and homelessness into schools.

The Social Work

What distinguishes HEMPELS from most street papers is the scale of its social work. The association café "Zum Sofa" has served as a meeting point for people with limited financial means since 1999. The soup kitchen provides warm meals. The two Trinkräume in Kiel offer supervised spaces for alcohol consumption, a harm-reduction approach that was pioneering in Germany. The social service supports vendors and other clients with the bureaucracy of poverty: applications, debts, housing searches.

The Housing First project, run through the association's own trust foundation, provides homeless people with apartments without preconditions, following the evidence-based principle that stable housing is the foundation for addressing other problems. The participation in the Kieler Anker gGmbH, which continues and develops the social service, the Trinkräume, and the housing support, embeds HEMPELS in the city's social infrastructure. The association is recognized as charitable by the Kiel tax office.

Organization and Ownership

HEMPELS is published by HEMPELS e.V., the nonprofit association based at Schaßstraße 4, 24103 Kiel. The association has represented the interests of poor and marginalized people in Schleswig-Holstein for more than 30 years through the monthly publication of the street magazine and other print products, with branches in Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg, and Husum and partners in Neumünster and many smaller towns. The contact email addresses use the hempels-sh.de domain.

The business model combines the magazine's sales revenues with donations, public funding, and the social-work contracts. The vendors' earnings come directly from street sales, making the magazine a direct instrument of poverty relief. The association's charitable status and its recognition in the state's political institutions, from the Landtag hearings to the cooperation with the city of Kiel, give it a legitimacy that extends beyond the street-paper scene.

Digital Presence

The portal hempels-sh.de is the association's digital home, presenting the magazine, the social-work offerings, and the ways to support the project. The online publications in various formats extend the journalism beyond print, reaching readers who encounter the association online rather than on the street. For a street paper, the digital presence serves a dual purpose: it informs about the magazine and the cause, and it provides the donation and support infrastructure that sustains the social work.

In an era when print media are under pressure, the street-paper model has proven resilient: the personal encounter between vendor and buyer cannot be digitized, and the magazine's social mission gives it a relevance that transcends the news cycle. HEMPELS' 30-year history, from the first issue in February 1996 to the Housing First apartments of today, demonstrates how a street magazine can grow into a comprehensive social institution. The vendors, visible in the pedestrian zones of Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg, and Husum, are themselves the magazine's most effective ambassadors: each sale is a conversation, each conversation a small act of social inclusion.