Securing an ID for persons who are homeless: A Project Homeless Connect innovation from Norfolk and San Francisco

For a person experiencing homelessness, the loss, theft, or damage of identification, personal papers, or discharge documents can mean no longer having vital records that help create a trajectory to end homelessness. Further, lack of a place to receive one's mail, document costs and fees, and often sequential filing requirements for key items (first, you need a document from another state, then you can file for an ID, then you can apply for a benefit) pose extra difficulties.

One place where solutions have emerged to secure ID on-site or on an expedited basis and at no cost is through Project Homeless Connect events and their expansive community partnerships. Securing identification needed for everything from benefits applications to employment and housing gives hope for the future.

Today we profile the innovations of two Project Connect cities in securing ID for guests.

In Norfolk, Virginia, the indispensable feature of the ID innovation at Project Homeless Connect, by which a person walks away from the event with an ID card, is the ability to confirm a person's identity on site using existing data sources. Food stamp records can be accessed on site during the Connect event. City officials have found that most Project Connect guests have a food stamp eligibility record, and that those who don't may have another qualifying record that verifies their identity, such as a corrections record.

As a result, the individual receives a city-sponsored ID card which is accepted for employment assistance, use of homeless programs, and as an accepted second form of ID for the Department of Motor Vehicles. The Project Homeless Connect event is not the only time a person can get a city sponsored ID, but the event offers a one-stop process.

At the Connect event, a worker from the Department of Social Services accesses food stamp records to confirm that identity was established in the food stamp eligibility process and that the file is not more than 5 years old. All documents in the food stamp files have been electronically scanned. A worker from the Department of Human Services prepares the actual ID using the same process as is done for city employees. Background color is changed to distinguish the city-sponsored ID from a city employee ID. The city-sponsored ID which the homeless guest receives that day includes photo, food stamp case number, and an expiration date. The ID is valid for 2 years.

In San Francisco, an individual with a birth certificate or another form of identification can register for an ID at the Project Homeless Connect site. For those who do not have a birth certificate, Project Connect provides a registration process to obtain a new document within the Department of Motor Vehicles station creating ID's at the event. Individuals register at the DMV station and receive a voucher for their new ID. Project Homeless Connect negotiated both a reduction in the $21 fee to $6 and obtained the resources to pay the fee for the client, resulting in free ID. DMV mails the free identification card within two weeks. The agency will use general delivery or a caseworker as the recipient address for an individual's new identification document.

Many Project Homeless Connect events are using a sponsorship approach for needed fees, a strategy which quantifies for a donor that, for example, a specific amount of money will help obtain a birth certificate or driver's license for one individual, which helps donors understand that fairly small sums often stand between an individual and needed outcomes. $50, for example, will secure an out-of-state birth certificate.

Individual homeless persons benefit by acquiring needed identification documents that ease their access to apply for needed benefits and entitlements, as well as to complete applications for employment and housing. Further, legal identification helps consumers resolve other outstanding matters that may impede their path out of homelessness, whether legal matters or connections with family and friends. Success in obtaining ID at a Project Homeless Connect event after what may have been multiple failed attempts can provide a new outlook for the future.

The community benefits when individual consumers are able to apply for and receive financial and other resources that help end their homelessness, making them new neighbors in the community with the means to work, rent housing, and conduct other business.

Project Homeless Connect sponsors and partners benefit by knowing that their individual sponsorship of a resource at the event makes a genuine difference in a person's life and future.

In Norfolk, which began its ID program at the August 2006 Project Homeless Connect, about 50 IDs were issued at the first event.

At the most recent Project Homeless Connect in February 2008, 175 IDs were issued.

Norfolk Office to End Homelessness Director Katie Kitchin estimated that at least 100 ID's were issued at each Project Connect since the first event, after staff at the inaugural Project Connect found that at least 50% of the homeless guests had no form of ID.

In San Francisco, during all the PHC events in the city in 2007, 970 ID's were issued.

San Francisco's Project Homeless Connect event in February 2008 resulted in 286 DMV identification cards being issued.

The city reports its results on its web site after each Connect event.

San Francisco Project Homeless Connect, the pioneer of the innovative one-day, one-stop model, has created a multi- pronged strategy for securing identification on-site for its guests. San Francisco has now convened more than 20 Connect events since 2004, "breaking the myth that people do not seek assistance and services and would simply prefer to be on the street" and offering community volunteers from the public and private sector an opportunity to welcome their homeless neighbors into the "living room" and life of the community.

In Norfolk, Mayor Paul Fraim's Office to End Homelessness, directed by Katie Kitchin, worked with the Departments of Human Services and Social Services, as well as the City Attorney to develop its innovation. The City Attorney reviewed and approved the on-site verification using existing data sources with personal identifiers.

San Francisco pioneered Project Homeless Connect as an innovative one-day, one-stop engagement strategy under Mayor Gavin Newsom and 10 Year Plan Community Champion Angela Alioto. Implementation by Mayor's staff Dariush Kayhan and Department of Public Health Project Homeless Connect Director Judith Klain has ensured that Project Homeless Connect's partners and results continue to grow.

Norfolk: To learn more about Norfolk's ID innovation, contact the Office to End Homelessness:

Phone: 757-664-4488
Email: homelessness@norfolk.gov

San Francisco: To learn more about San Francisco's ID resources, contact Project Homeless Connect:
Phone: 415- 255-3908
Email: help@projecthomelessconnect.com
Or visit the Project Homeless Connect web site.

With encouragement and technical assistance from the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, Project Homeless Connect has now been adopted by more than 170 cities across the nation. Project Homeless Connect has another goal besides immediate access to quality of life resources and on-site housing and employment opportunities to end homelessness: Project Homeless Connect is intended to change how business is done in local communities when it comes to expediting outcomes, lowering barriers, removing obstacles, and increasing results.

Consistent with the Council's commitment to the rapid dissemination of what's working, Project Homeless Connect events have brought to light new solutions to old challenges shared across the country.

Project Homeless Connect's "under one roof" offerings for consumers and the "mobile hospitality" of volunteers who act as escorts, shepherds, and conductors for their homeless neighbors help lower their barriers and achieve results. Public and private sector resource providers work side-by- side in a new configuration, with a focus on problem - solving and results.

20 in 20, A Month of Innovations, continues tomorrow with a Special Issue focused on:

Measuring Local Results in Ending Homelessness through a State Plan: Washington State's Intergovernmental Partnership

Don't miss a single episode during this 20 in 20 Month of Innovations . . . but, if you do, you can always access the Council's "on demand" service and catch up. Just visit our web site at www.usich.gov/innovations

email: usich@usich.gov

web: http://www.usich.gov