Newsletter: Stories from Street Books and Self-Governed Villages

Published

March 26, 2026 10:26 am

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Dear Neighbors,

Over the past several weeks, I've had the privilege of meeting with volunteers, experts, and unhoused neighbors who are working on real solutions to Portland's homelessness crisis. Today I want to share a few takeaways from two recent meetings with groups whose voices are too often excluded from conversations around ending homelessness: frontline workers and residents of self-governed villages.

What I heard offered both a powerful indictment of our current approach, and a clear path toward something better.

In Solidarity,

Mitch Green

Books and Belonging with Street Books

Last week, I joined Squier and Diana from Street Books outside Blanchet House in Old Town.For those unfamiliar, Street Books is a mobile library and resource distribution operation, but it's also so much more. It's a rolling sanctuary. As they handed out supplies like clean socks, hand sanitizer, naloxone, and wet wipes (these go the fastest), I got a glimpse into the radical, unconditional care they offer.

Squier shared her story with me, and it's one I can't shake. She told me how books saved her life when she was living on the streets after having to drop out of school very young.

"Books were the way that I educated myself. That was how I taught myself everything I needed. Just to be able to get lost in a story, to be able to make sense of my own life and formulate stories. I wanted to be able to give back in a meaningful way to people."

This desire to give back is at the core of Street Books' mission. But what struck me most was their philosophy. Here's how Squier put it: "Not just giving people what they need but doing so with no judgment. We want people to feel supported. Our love isn't conditional at this cart."

She contrasted this approach with what she sees as a transactional, punitive approach, too often taken by city-run shelters.

"People keep talking about how there's safety in the shelters. And I think if you talk to some folks on the streets that have utilized them, they would say the opposite."

"We need to be housing first. I just cannot get around that. I don't think that the overnight shelters are really helpful to most people. They're breaking apart families. They're keeping people from the things that they love, like their animals or their partners."

Squier and her team also see up-close the harm caused by our city's sweeps. They host an ID clinic because of the constant destruction:

"We host an ID clinic because people have their birth certificates, passports, ID, things that are beloved to them - things like wedding rings and family photos - swept constantly. It's just inhumane. It's sickening to watch the sweeps. We have to witness the insane loss and suffering over and over again."

Street Books Video

The Village Federation: Self-Governance, Not Incarceration

My second meeting was with The Village Federation; a group primarily composed of delegates from Portland's self-governed villages. Portland has a number of these villages, including Dignity Village, Hazelnut Grove, and Right 2 DreamToo (R2D2), some dating back over 25 years.

The delegates see the self-governed model as a humane and effective alternative to a shelter system that treats them like problems rather than as human beings. I heard from residents who had endured the trauma of sweeps (which can lead to losing important personal items and documents) only to find themselves subject to prison-like conditions in some city-run pod shelters.

Victory LaFara, an expert on shelter design and village model researcher, told me the similarities to prisons are no coincidence.

"These models are literally modeled after prisons. The physical layout of the architecture - the Panopticon - is a prison model. The authority structure is straight out of a prison model. It is designed entirely with the goal of controlling the population, keeping the operations smooth for the staff, not for the people," they said. "It seems like this would promote order, but in reality the design causes violence."

They contrasted this approach to the one taken by Right2DreamToo (R2D2), a self-governed village of unhoused people located in the Rose Quarter.

"Crime actually dropped significantly within a few blocks because the people who were staying there cared so much about that community. They felt a part of it and felt that sense of ownership and belonging to it; that they were protecting it and making sure that there was nothing that would threaten its existence happening in that area."

It seems clear to me that this approach solves so many of the issues we see in city-run alternative shelters. They have better relationships with neighbors. They're cleaner. They're safer. And most importantly, they give residents ownership and agency over their own spaces and lives.

One self-governed village resident told me about the community-building that happens when people control their own environment. "People that live in apartments, they don't know the people on their floor, let alone around their block. We have a meeting every Sunday. We see each other in the kitchen, we work together, we create a community."

But the most powerful story I heard was from a former resident of Dignity Village. This is what she told me:

"I've been homeless since I was 11 years old. I just turned 57. So, it took 47 years for me to get into housing. For me, it took Dignity Village to get me there. When I first got there, I didn't trust people. Then I got to figure out what Dignity Village was about. It's not about putting people down or kicking people out. It's about helping them up. The way Dignity Village is set up works. Self-governance works."

A Path Forward

What I learned from the Village Federation is that self-governance isn't just more humane, it's dramatically cheaper than the approach the city is currently taking. One village representative noted that their entire annual operating expenses for a site that houses 60 people every night are around $76,000. What the City spends per personper year at many pod shelter sites is far more costly with worse outcomes than the price tag for operating a self-governed village.

As we approach another budget season that will require significant cuts, these lessons are crucial. One of the drivers of our nearly $170 million budget gap is our continued investment in overnight shelters and sweeps. This approach is expensive, dehumanizing, and has clearly failed to solve unsheltered homelessness.

I believe we can achieve much better outcomes for a fraction of the cost if we pursue models like the ones described above. That means investing in self-governed villages, supporting efforts like Street Books, expanding low-barrier jobs programs like the GLITTER program, and ending the traumatic cycle of sweeps that only pushes people from neighborhood to another, or deeper into natural areas and despair.

I'll be taking these lessons back to City Hall and fighting for a budget that centers dignity, self-determination, and proven solutions.

If you want to give your input on the budget, we hope you'll join us at the District 4 Budget Open House on Saturday, April 4^th from 10 am - 12 pm.

Stay tuned for more.

District 4 Budget Open House

Council and Committee Meetings with Councilor Green

City Council Meeting

City Council holds regular meetings at 9:30 a.m. on the first, second, fourth and fifth Wednesday and 6:00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. If there is sufficient business, additional meetings are held the following Thursday at 2:00 p.m.

New Committee Meetings

Starting in April 2026, City Council will have five committees:

1. Community and Public Safety,
2. City Life,
3. Housing and Permitting,
4. Public Works, and
5. Committee of the Whole

Councilor Green's committees are: Public Works, Housing, and Committee of the Whole. We hope to see you there.

Upcoming Meetings

Community Events

Dear Portland, by Humans for Housing: February 7 - April 9

Women-Owned Restaurants in Portland You Should Visit: March + Beyond

Portland Saturday Market: Every Saturday, Through December 5

No Kings Protest:March 28, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Trans Town PDX 2026: March 29, 2:00 pm - 9:00 pm

District 4 Budget Open House:April 4, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Connect with Mitch

Instagram @councilormitchgreen

Bluesky @councilorgreen.bsky.social

YouTube @CouncilorGreenComms

Website portland.gov

Email [email protected]