Of all the ideas James Shearer considered when he was trying to get off the streets, there was one he was sure would never work: write, publish and sell a newspaper.

“I was like, 'What? No. It’s not going to happen,'” recalls Shearer. “First of all, we’re all homeless. What are we going to do — print it on the streets?”

But the idea took hold, and on subway rides and in coffee shops, Shearer and small group of friends launched "Spare Change News."

“The paper, when it came out, it was like wildfire,” said Shearer. “Our first issue sold out. Our second issue sold out. By our third issue, we were like, 'Whoa, we were on to something.'”

Donations and grants fund the operation. Street vendors buy as many papers as they want for 50 cents and then keep what they earn. No one gets rich. Even back in the 1990’s, Shearer never made enough to pay rent, but it was an important stepping stone.

“Six months later, while I was doing this, while I was selling the paper, I just simply got a part-time job. I had a girlfriend, we got a place to live. I was off the streets by August,” he said.

Asking for spare change, he said, is demoralizing. But selling "Spare Change News" is empowering. And in the 25 years since it hit the streets, Shearer said it has helped hundreds of homeless people.

“There are people that have come through here that are now writers," said Shearer, "they have businesses and people have been offered jobs and just made a life for themselves. I see them all the time.”

Vendors leave, return, and, some never stop selling "Spare Change News."

“The big thing is commitment,” explained Mike Thistle, as he stood near his regular spot outside a Whole Foods grocery store in Cambridge. He first started selling "Spare Change News" seven years ago and, he said, his first time out he made $30.

“And I said, 'Hey, this is viable option to have a hand up and not a hand out,'” said Thistle. “It gave me a sense of purpose.”

It happened slowly, but he said since he started selling the newspaper he’s made the move out of shelters and into subsidized housing.  

Shearer said the newspaper's founders all eventually got off the street. But "Spare Change News" is a paper, not a magic bullet.  

“Things happen, life happens,” said Shearer. “You’ve got to clean up your past. For me, that was a lot. I was a drug addict and I had a lot to clean up and it wasn’t easy. But the paper kept me going. It saved my life.”

Shearer was once the paper’s editor and remains a regular contributor. The modest newsroom and distribution center is located in the basement of a Harvard Square church. Framed front pages hang on the wall. There’s one about the closing of theLong Island shelter. Another features a picture of a homeless man, with the headline “Safe From Harm.” 

“The only reason homeless people get attacked by people is nobody cares,” said Shearer as he studied the framed paper. “They’re low on the food chain.”

Life on the streets, he said, has always been dangerous and demoralizing. But given the scope of the opioid crisis and sky-rocketing cost of housing, he said, it’s harder than ever to get beyond the shelter system. But he believes "Spare Change News" remains a stepping stone.

“If someone had said, 25 years later, not only that this paper [would] be here, but that I would be the board president of its parent organization? Yeah, okay. All right. What are you smoking?" said Shearer. “But here it is. And here I am.”