You’ll notice that residents live in what are called “Tiny Homes.” But be careful, the size of the homes is the least important part of this effort. Many communities are building tiny home neighborhoods that will likely become tiny slums in short order.
The Other Side Village is not a transitional neighborhood. Nor is it just about “permanent housing.” The Village will not just be a place that houses people, it will be a place that changes lives.
Sure, the housing will be top notch. Our homes will be of the highest quality and will include a bathroom with a shower, a kitchen with all major appliances, a bedroom and bed, as well as a living and eating area. The neighborhood itself will be beautifully designed with green space, community buildings, and other amenities built to facilitate connection.
But what will be most healing and ennobling about the Village will be the culture. It will be a vibrant social hub that brings people together from around the city, the State and the world. It will be a community with strong social norms – one where everyone takes responsibility to maintain safety, cleanliness, and neighborliness. The key to our success is not the physical structures, but the social system. The primary ingredient for success, like at The Other Side Academy, is creating a strong culture that lifts and changes all who are part of it. This is what The Other Side Academy has learned to do. And we are committed to creating this same opportunity for our unsheltered brothers and sisters.
The most important part is to create an environment, socially and physically, that facilitates connection with others. Homelessness is the result of a catastrophic loss of family. So the solution must be to build a new family. You’ll notice in the physical design of the Village promotes connection. Even in our 500-home community, the village feels no larger than the 25-home neighborhood your home connects you with.
When you apply to join the Village, you’ll be interviewed by neighbors who may have arrived a few weeks or months before you. This vetting process creates a social contract in which obligations are made between peer neighbors, not some faceless bureaucracy.
When you join a 25-home neighborhood, you are welcomed and oriented by the neighbors themselves in an informal housewarming gathering. You soon learn that a couple of your immediate neighbors are peer leaders. They let you know what is expected and help you learn to hold others to the standards as well. They let you know about opportunities you’ll have to volunteer as well as to improve your economic circumstances if you so desire.
For example, you may move into a 250 square foot home but begin to like the idea of a larger unit with a couple of other amenities. They’ll tell you about social enterprises in the Village where you can work as much as you are willing and able to do to increase your income.
Another unique feature of the Village will be our use of peer accountability for solving community problems. The Village will employ a restorative justice model to help neighbors solve problems that arise that can’t be solved with a simple conversation. The goal of all of this is to empower our future neighbors to take control of their own neighborhoods and feel ownership in keeping it safe and clean. One of the hidden realities of homeless camps is that it is the chronically unsheltered who are the most frequent victims of crime and abuse. The Other Side Village is designed to reverse this pattern — giving control back to our residents with the tools they need to enforce the standards they believe in.
Also important for the success of the Village is the way it will integrate with the community it joins. The Village will not be an isolated community kept separate from the rest of the city. In fact, it will be the opposite. The Village is designed to draw in the larger community everyday – through shared shopping and services, a community amphitheater, and the Village social enterprises. We will have concerts, speakers, festivals, and political debates that are open to the entire city.
The Other Side Village will be a gem for our city and our state. It will be an example to other cities showing how a community can come together with compassion and intention to provide long term solutions to deeply entrenched social problems. It will stand as an example of the Utah way, something to make every one of us proud of what we can accomplish together when we are committed to mutual upliftment.
Get the latest on The Village right to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter!