Celebrating a Double Milestone: 50 Years and Double Fifties (or simply, Celebrating a Double Milestone at 50)
On March 7th, the bustling Zakk Beer Garden played host to a special celebration as the street magazine Fiftyfifty marked its 30th birthday. The event was filled with good food, cold drinks, and a lively atmosphere, with live music from Roter Kreis featuring JayJay, Ufo Walter, Vom Ritchie, and Thomas Schneider.
The celebration was graced by the presence of local dignitaries, including Mayor Stephan Keller, who recognised the Housing First system as a successful model for addressing homelessness. Keller announced plans to mediate around 500 apartments for the homeless by 2030 through this system.
The Housing First model prioritises providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness as quickly as possible, without preconditions like sobriety or treatment compliance. Fiftyfifty, through its Housing First project, has been working towards this goal since its inception. The first Housing First apartments were created through the sale of art edition clocks, as shown in an archived interview.
The celebration also saw a moving retrospective from Django, a street magazine vendor, who reminisced about various actions, including a protest against the planned reduction in the social ticket. Martin Maier-Bode from the Kom(m)ödchen performed a cabaret act, adding a touch of humour to the proceedings.
Graphic designer and campaigner Heike Hassel was honoured at the celebration for her contributions to the magazine. Among the guests were street magazine vendors, companions, supporters, and local politics, all coming together to celebrate the impact Fiftyfifty has had on the city.
Since last year, there is a new stage with "Housing First meets Gastro", focusing on integrating the homeless into the labor market. Protestant Superintendent Heinrich Fucks gave a speech, thanking everyone involved in Fiftyfifty and emphasising their humanitarian impact on the city. He ended his speech with the words "I love you because you are so anarchic and hopefully stay that way".
Art and culture projects are available for interested people, and Fiftyfifty is not just a street magazine; it also has an online version, offers neighbourhood tours, and hosts regular exhibitions. WDR broadcasted the celebration live and unearthed an interview with Hubert Ostendorf from 1995 from the archive.
Despite extensive research, the specific history and impact of Fiftyfifty's Housing First project could not be found in the current search results or widely known sources. If Fiftyfifty refers to a specific street magazine in a particular city, more targeted research or direct sources from that organisation would be needed to provide a detailed history and assessment of its Housing First initiative.
- The Housing First meets Gastro stage, introduced last year, aims to integrate outdoor-living individuals into the labor market, to provide a more sustainable lifestyle.
- The bustling Zakk Beer Garden, a venue often associated with home-and-garden events and outdoor-living, was the setting for the extravagant Fiftyfifty 30th birthday celebration.
- As social media platforms continue to evolve, they offer new possibilities for individuals to share experiences and information about initiatives like Fiftyfifty's entertainment endeavors and home-and-garden projects.
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