Commentary
Lessons of restorative justice aid villagers in self-governance
BY GABRIELE ROSS
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
here are many reasons someone
experiencing homelessness avoids
shelters. They come with myriad
rules around pets and staying with a
partner, among others. And for people with
PTSD, anxiety disorders or mental health
issues, a crowded shelter can actually
aggravate a person’s condition. The
alternative for many people are tents.
There are many tent camps in the city
that are frequently raided and swept by the
Portland Police Bureau and other
authorities. Four permanent villages that
started as tent camps, however, have
become communities of tiny houses.
The oldest of the villages, Dignity Village,
has existed for 17 years and hosts about 50
people. With the exception of the newest
(Kenton Women’s Village, with 25 residents
total during the last year) all villages are
self-governed, as opposed to being run by
social-service agencies. The other two
villages are Hazelnut Grove (16 residents)
and Right2DreamToo (10 permanent
members and up to 60 overnight guests). A
new village (Agape) with tiny houses for
about 30 people is being constructed, and
additional villages are planned. The vast
majority of residents in all villages live with
physical and mental disabilities, many have
experienced major trauma in their lives.
Villages allow them to live in safety - in tiny
houses with locked doors and among people
who sign up for security shifts at night and
help each other out in multiple other ways.
Self-governance is both an opportunity
and a challenge. Few models exist and most
of us have not grown up in ways that taught
us how to resolve conflict peacefully. Like in
any other community, conflicts occasionally
occur in the villages. Villages have a code of
conduct and respond collectively when that
code is violated by individuals.
With support from Resolutions
Northwest, the Village Coalition and
CareOregon, Portland’s villages embarked
B
Gabriele Ross is a
Restorative Justice
Trainer fo r
Resolutions
N orthw est in
Portland.
on a journey to learn about restorative
justice, conflict resolution and mediation
during the past year. As part of regular
meetings, in which village business is taken
care of, villagers learned about
communication skills, accountability and
repairing harm when a member violates
community norms.
A punitive approach is all about rules and
establishing blame for those who break
them. A restorative approach is about
relationships and accepting responsibility to
repair harm when it has occurred.
A punitive approach often relies on
authority figures to address problems and
leaves out the person who was harmed. In a
restorative setting the conflict is addressed
by those who are part of it and the harmed
person’s voice is central.
In a punitive world people who committed
harm are often isolated and excluded,
whereas in a restorative approach they are
welcomed back into the community and
supported in making that work.
“If you come from being homeless for
years you got a lot of anger and resentment
build up inside and things can get really
ugly,” said Tequilah, a long-term resident of
Hazelnut Grove. “Under a bridge you don’t
have mediation - you have a bunch of sad,
miserable people trying to make the best
out of the situation. Often the police end up
being called and the issues become bigger
after th a t
“In environm ents like this you need
mediation,” Tequilah said. “Any community
or organization should know about conflict
resolution and practice restorative justice.
We can’t run from being social species but
we will always have clashes. I learned to be
a lot more patient to analyze the whole
situation. Whatever people are going
through - we often don’t see the much
bigger issues. For example: in my family
there was no concept of mental illness.
When people acted out it was seen as them
needing some fqrm of punishment. At the
same time growing up in a multi-racial
family, I learned to always see multiple
viewpoints and meet in the middle. I am
black, bi-racial, gay, houseless and an
atheist I identify as trans and I wear
women’s clothing sometimes. If I can get
along with people from all walks of life you
have no excuse not to!”
“Restorative Justice is useful to address a
lack of communication and to introduce us
to new progressive ways to interact with
each other,” said Melissa, another Hazelnut
Grove resident. “We look into ourselves but
we also look at the
positives in each other,
rather than just focusing
on the negatives. Being
able to talk about issues A punitive approach is all
when there is a conflict
about rules and establishing
helps to de-escalate the
blame for those who break
situation instead of
them. A restorative approach
allowing the anger to
is
abont relationships and
increase. We learned
accepting responsibility to
new methods for being
repair harm when it has
able to work with each
other and communicate.1 occurred.
Tequilah, Melissa and
a resident at Dignity
Village who developed
his own presentation on
intentional listening and other
communication skills, are now able and
ready to pass on what they learned to
people in their own and in other villages to
keep thé momentum going. Villages are a
valuable and cost-saving alternative to
shelters and preserve people’s dignity and
self-determination. Villagers are experts on
their own lives and well equipped to help
each other, which has a direct impact on the
well-being of those who live in the villages.
The larger community should support the
villages because we all can benefit from
learning how to make self-determined
community living work and be a sustainable
alternative in responding to the lack of
affordable housing.
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