Dignity Village

Dignity Village is a city-recognized encampment of an estimated 60 homeless people in Portland, Oregon, United States. In the days before Christmas of 2000, a group of homeless people in Portland succeeded in establishing a tent city which garnered a great deal of both opposition and support, and quickly evolved from a group of self-described "outsiders" who practiced civil disobedience, to a self-regulating, city-recognized "campground" as defined by Portland city code. Now featuring dedicated land near Portland International Airport, elected community officials and crude but functional cooking, social, electric, and sanitary facilities, Dignity Village got its start as a collection of tents and campers "squatting" illegally on unused...