When the people behind Opportunity Village Eugene last year opened the groundbreaking homeless community, they had something to prove.

They wanted to take people off the street while showing that the homeless village — supported by a nonprofit organization and board of directors — could run its own affairs.

Nine months into the Opportunity Village Eugene experience, supporters say they are achieving both goals.

Thirty-three people live at the village in 60-to-80-square-foot, one-room wooden bungalows or curve-topped huts on city-owned land on North Garfield Street, near Roosevelt Boulevard.

The community is well-managed, village supporters and city officials say.

Eugene police Lt. Eric Klinko said officers only have been summoned to the village a few times, mainly to deal with drunken or disruptive people.

“It has gone better than I thought it would,” he said. The village “has not been a burden to the neighborhood in terms of a crime impact.”

Since the village opened in late August, 24 residents have left, 14 of them voluntarily.

Most of the 14 people moved in with friends or family, or to an apartment or publicly subsidized housing, according to quarterly reports the village files with the city.

Ten residents have been expelled by the village council for rules violations, with most of them ending up back on the street.

The expulsions mean that residents are enforcing village rules, which shows a self-governing homeless community can work, said the Rev. Dan Bryant, president of the village board of directors.

The evictions also reveal the difficulty of providing transitional housing for people, many of whom are battling drug and alcohol addictions, and mental health problems, he said.

“Community life can be a difficult adjustment for people who are used to living on the streets, where it’s every person for themselves,” Bryant said. “Some folks have a tough time making that transition, and have to be expelled.”

Inspired by Portland’s Dignity Village, the City Council-approved pilot housing area was the idea of church leaders, homeless advocates and others who formed a private, nonprofit group to make it happen.

Residents are screened and must sign an agreement to abide by village rules.

A 12-member board of directors oversees the village, but a seven-member village council, made up of residents, enforces rules and handles day-to-day affairs.

People can be evicted by the council if they don’t help maintain the village, are persistently disruptive, steal, use drugs or alcohol on site, or are violent to themselves or others.

“This community wouldn’t be able to function if (residents) were allowed to behave in the ways that got them to homelessness in the first place,” said resident Christian Veysey, 32, a former amphetamine user.

Joe Robinson, 61, was the first person to be expelled from the village.

A former Arizona resident, construction worker and recovering alcoholic, Robinson said he got so “stoked” about moving to the village last August that he got drunk. When he arrived at the village gate inebriated, he was not allowed in, became belligerent and took a swing at a person, Bryant said.

Robinson ended up at the Eugene Mission, the Christian homeless shelter. He is now enrolled in the mission’s “Life Change,” program and says he hasn’t had a drink since the village incident.

Robinson said he’s better suited for the mission and its structure than the village, where residents are left on their own.

“For me, the village would have been too much free time anyway,” he said. For others, the village and its modest accommodations provide a place to live until they can move to something better.

Former North Carolina residents Ron Griffith and Katherine Hoye were married at the village last Halloween.

They moved out in February, to an apartment in Eugene to live with Griffith’s 66-year-old mother, who is in poor health.

Hoye, 44, had become a state certified caregiver for her mother-in-law. The income from that job helps them make ends meet.

“It’s enough to pay all of our bills,” Hoye said. “We are saving and planning for the future. I’m planning to go back to school, online at Lane Community College, and study business administration.”

The council is made up of residents elected by other villagers to two-month terms.

Laura King, a former council member, said serving on the council was stressful.

She participated in votes to evict two people from the village.

One man violated village rules against drinking and stealing, King said. A woman repeatedly disrupted village meetings, and left her two dogs unattended in her hut.

“It’s very difficult to expel people,” King, 49, said. “It’s like you built relationships with these people and you don’t want to throw anybody off the lifeboat. You know what it’s like being on the streets. But my friend is clearly poking holes in the life raft, and that’s going to take us all down unless it’s rectified.”

The village is spread over a 1-acre panhandle-shaped lot next to the city’s Public Works Department maintenance yard.

Residents, who pay $30 a month to cover utilities, live in nine rustic “Conestoga” huts and 20 bungalows. Other structures include a gatehouse, kitchen, tarp-covered dining area, and a bathhouse with bathrooms, showers and laundry room. A 30-foot-wide yurt equipped with a wood pellet stove and Wi-Fi serves as the village’s central gathering area and venue for council and community meetings.

The village was built during the past nine months from donated and purchased materials by volunteers and residents for about $100,000. Supporters say it’s one of the most cost-effective approaches to housing the homeless in the nation.

The village is attracting interest from other states. Visitors have come from Buffalo, N.Y.; Dallas, Texas; and Santa Cruz, Yreka and Chico, Calif. Neighborhood leaders from around the country who recently attended a conference in Eugene took tours of the village.

Because the tiny homes are unheated, residents say living at the village is similar to camping.

It gets cold inside their dwellings, especially during the winter, they say.

“It’s so hard to start your day when it’s so cold,” said resident Cynthia Coconato. “You have to wait until 10 before you start to warm up.”

But residing in the village is better than moving from place-to-place in a tent, said Elizabeth Akin, 29, who had camped with her boyfriend in Eugene.

“It feels good to have your own space,” she said. “It’s good to know that when you get home, that you have a place to rest.”

The communal living can lead to conflicts, residents and organizers said. Villagers aren’t allowed to drink on site, but that doesn’t prevent some from drinking away from the village and returning intoxicated.

Sometimes food and other items go missing. People get into arguments.

“It’s like anywhere else,” Coconato, 60, said. “It’s a middle school environment, with all of the drama and the emotion.”

Motivated by the initial success, village organizers want to start another community at a yet-to-be-determined location.

Tentatively named Emerald Village Eugene, the new area would have 15 small houses, about half as many as Opportunity Village Eugene. It would provide longer-term housing for homeless people who have some income but not enough to pay for an apartment.

The city is leasing the site of the present village to organizers for $1 a year. The lease expires in October, and Bryant said the board of directors hopes to get another year on the site.

The village has been a learning experience, with organizers having to make adjustments, said Bryant, pastor at First Christian Church in downtown Eugene.

Early on, the self governing structure was put to the test. Conflicts erupted because some residents thought council members had too much power, he said.

Now, all council decisions can be subject to review by the entire village.

Residents also created a mentorship program, where community veterans spend two weeks with new arrivals to help them adjust to village life, Bryant said.

Residents “came up with that idea themselves,” he said. “They are running their own affairs, and it’s wonderful to see.”

Follow Ed on Twitter @edwardrusso . Email ed.russo@registerguard.com .