Documentation

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The need to have paperwork in order to legally get work, pay your taxes and generally function as part of the economy is a relatively recent issue. As little as a few decades back, this was not an ubiquitous need to function in society.

One of the most common problems homeless people have is that they lose their ID and birth certificate. They can face significant barriers to getting new documentation. This becomes a substantial barrier to getting their life back.

Some homeless people are like illegal aliens within their own country. They have no ID and this is a barrier to getting a job, accessing benefits they are due and generally connecting with society.

In this Reddit discussion: How to get an I.D if you never got a birth certificate or S.S number? the OP says: It was a home birth and I was home schooled growing up. Parents never took me a to a doctor either during my childhood.

There is a long comment by another Redditor that spells out how this can happen and how problematic it is. In part it says:
Legally, right now he's no different from any illegal alien. Actually in some ways he's worse than an illegal alien; at least they have some proof of identity even if it's not that of a US citizen.
When my adult sons and I first hit the streets, neither of them had ID, but I still had ID. While crossing the country, I did worry about going too close to the border of Mexico while they had no documentation at all.

Once we got to San Diego, I was able to use my ID to request new birth certificates for them because I am an immediate blood relative. This prevented my sons from finding themselves in the situation where you need ID to get a birth certificate and you need a birth certificate to get ID. AKA "The key is in the safe."

For homeless individuals that lack family connections or for whom their family is part of the problem, there can be no easy way out. We need more processes and more organizations that deal with an issue that can make it nigh impossible to find one's way back to a normal life.

I will go so far as to say we need some sort of internal amnesty program. I have had an individual tell me via anonymous online message that with no ID, they could not get a job and they had no means to recover their ID. Thus, they felt that it was so hopeless that it would be best to end their life.

Additional related discussions on Reddit:

Houseless people need IDs/DLs too.
Can't get a job without ID
How do homeless people get identification?
How to get a State ID if you are homeless and therefore don't have proof of residency?
Trying to get an ID card in TX (19M)

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