- [Interviewer] Professor, we're here at
Dignity Village in Portland,
tell me about it.
- Well, Dignity Village
is a camp that I came to
when I became homeless,
and it's kind of, for me,
it's kind of a place where
I can start over,
because I was homeless.
I used to be a professor
and also have three engineering degrees,
and I just, after a terrible divorce, I lost a lot,
and I decided to buy an RV and I'd travel the country.
And then, because of gas being the way it is,
and the economy and the lack of a job, I ended up here,
and this is a good place with dignity,
and the rules are pretty, pretty easy to abide by,
and I'm just here as a transition to employment,
if I can find it outside,
and right now currently I do have potential opportunities
that I'm looking into.
I've been here since April of this year,
and I was homeless approximately
two months prior to coming here.
- [Interviewer] So actually out on the streets?
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] Gosh, now you're an educated man,
and in America I see more of these tent cities.
What do you think?
- Well I think there should be more
because there's so many more people.
You know, homelessness, most people
they don't understand homelessness.
Homelessness is not just the druggies,
and the people that don't want to do anything.
There's people out there that have lost good paying jobs,
whether they had a managerial job,
or whether they were a laborer in construction,
and these people are losing their homes,
they're getting foreclosed on,
things are more expensive,
they're cutting all kinds of funds for these people,
and you end up homeless.
It's pretty devastating when you're used to some kind of
semblance of order in your life.
- [Interviewer] Did you, while you were on the streets,
did you try the shelter system at all?
- Yes, I didn't like it because it's too confining,
and I didn't like the element that was there,
there was a lot of drugs.
I'd rather be sleeping in a tent elsewhere, in the woods.
- [Interviewer] You feel safer here?
- Oh, absolutely,
I felt safer in the woods than at the shelters.
- [Interviewer] Wow, gosh, now you're on the council here,
and this is a self-governed community.
- That's correct.
- [Interviewer] Tell me about that.
- Well, what the council is,
the council are people who have been members
in good-standing for 90 days or more,
and they have a vote in regards to making decisions,
about rule changes, disciplinary actions if we have a
member that's unruly or breaks the rules,
we decide whether this person needs
to be punished of some sort,
whether they get a 24 hour or seven day out,
or maybe just a probation,
until they can change their ways.
And so we try to be fair,
and council members have a little bit more authority.
They have the authority in that regard.
Now you have the members that have a vote also,
but they vote in the council members.
- [Interviewer] That's the hierarchy, that's the structure?
- Right, they vote in the council members.
- [Interviewer] Very cool.
To me, you heard us talking earlier probably,
is that this is the reason these exists,
it's because homeless services
hasn't been able to take care of you,
or the other 60 people living here.
- That's correct,
and what I really like about this village is that
we all have to contribute 10 hours a week,
whether it's doing security,
and some people are carpenters,
and some people have various skills,
like we have gardeners, so we have a greenhouse,
and we have a security shack,
and we have people that clean up the commons,
sweep the areas,
so everyone has a job, and any particular jobs,
like the gardening area,
they have a building coordinator,
they have a gardening coordinator,
and if you need hours,
you go see these individual coordinators,
and they'll put you to work,
and that's part of the requirement of staying here.
You have to contribute.
You can't just come here and hang out and float by.
- [Interviewer] If you had three wishes,
what would they be?
- Three wishes.
Well, I'd be self-sufficient, have a job that I enjoy.
Not have to worry about bills.
And a roof over my head and happiness,
with a lack of stress.
- [Interviewer] Thank you very much for talking with me.
- Okay, thank you, good luck.