Good Article in CWRU Magazine

Consider the Difficulty in Finding Identification

The CWRU Magazine, Think, had an interesting article about how difficult it is for those re-entering from incarceration to obtain identification. As we move forward in Ohio again on changing the process for voting (Remember how great a job we did in the 2005 reform?), legislators need to keep in mind how difficult it is to obtain identification.

In case the article disappears on the CWRU website here it is:

Regaining Identity a Nightmare for Recent Inmates

Obtaining an identification card is, seemingly, a normal passage through life. But those who recently have been released from prison, a valid ID can be a nearly impossible luxury.

Case Western Reserve University social-work researcher Amy Blank Wilson, PhD, says obtaining identification is an uphill battle for inmates reentering society. Lacking it can bar ex-offenders from public assistance programs like food stamps and Medicaid, which require clients to show ID.

“Released prisoners are being systematically excluded because of UD requirements,” she says.

The problem starts early in the criminal justice system: Suspects routinely have their identification confiscated when they are arrested. Those who don’t have it with them as they are apprehended are never given an opportunity to grab it. And the homeless are often forced to abandon all belongings on the street.

Wilson says that for those who are lucky enough to have some form of ID when they’re released, often what they have isn’t enough. Obtaining major forms of government-issued identification-such as a Social Security card- can require two different forms of Ids, such as a driver’s license and birth certificate, neither of such can be granted without at least one other major form of ID.

“When they’re released, former inmates face the Catch-22’ that it takes ID to get ID,” Wilson says. “This is keeping people from receiving life-sustaining resources. They’re missing out on the services they need.”

As a founding member of the local Homeless ID Collaborative under the guidance of West Side Catholic, the public needs to realize that it is very difficult to both afford and obtain a birth certificate. For those not born in Ohio, it can take months to get a birth certificate and the cost can be as high as $70. This is not an easy undertaking, and as the article suggests identification is now invaluable for housing, voting, obtaining a job and health care. Legislators need to be aware that identification is not so easy to come by even if the state decides to pay for the state identification card. A citizen cannot get a state id unless they have a birth certificate and social security number.

Brian
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People That Make Things Work 4

Linda Stamm--Identification Collaborative

It is such a routine and easy undertaking that most of us take for granted. It is something that we do every couple of years, and besides the long lines it is usually just an inconvenience to renew your driver's license. For a homeless person obtaining identification is difficult, and in a post 9/11 world it is often impossible. In Ohio, you cannot even exercise your fundamental right as a citizen to vote in person without identification. It all starts with the birth certificate as the primary document to get all the other pieces of identification. There are a hundred different ways to get a birth certificate, but some states make it impossible to order a birth certificate by mail. There is the thorny issue of what address to use if you have no fixed residence. In Cleveland, to get a birth certificate you have to go to City Hall, but that requires showing identification to get into the office of vital statistics to get the birth certificate. To prove who you were actually born, you have to enter this Monty Python type routine with the security guard at City Hall asking to see your identification; you respond that you are there to get identification, and there is this stand off at the front door.

Anyway, identification can cost between $15 and $120, but in many cases it is the ticket to housing or a job or treatment or release from parole. It is often the last thing that people secure when they first become homeless, and it is one of the first items stolen. For those born on a military base or in New York City or Indiana or Puerto Rico, it takes a very long time and it is a very difficult process to order your birth certificate by mail. This all has to do with stepped up security after the attacks on September 11, and local and state budget shortfalls that resulted in large scale increases in fees. In Cleveland, we developed a unique partnership with many of the homeless social service providers. Linda Stamm of the West Side Catholic Center has been a vital part of this for the last few years, and is moving on in the next few weeks.

NEOCH assigned a VISTA to this project about five years ago, and he was able to coordinate this service for the year he was here. Then West Side Catholic took over the project, and the Plain Dealer did a feature on the problems that homeless people had with identification. They showed how other cities had funded identification programs, and Cleveland was behind in providing this opportunity. We also have to give credit to Eileen from St. Colman's for getting everyone together in the beginning and pushing this forward. St. Colman's was the original fiscal agent for the project. The big step forward that Jerry Skoch provided at West Side Catholic was to not only fund a program that provides resources to those without identification to purchase a birth certificate or state id or both, but also providing a staff position to do advocacy around obtaining ID. Often the importance of advocacy in setting up these programs is forgotten. There are huge issues that Linda was able to help us work through. She raised flags to the community when the state was raising the price of identification. She tried to convince the state that they should help with the cost of obtaining identification for very low income people as other states do. Linda helped us with the voting lawsuit that we filed to allow the votes of homeless people to count when they voted and did not have ID. She helped with negotiations over the loss of licenses because of debt issues, the specific rules for people coming out of incarceration and obtaining id, and clarifying residency rules at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

This has been an excellent collaboration, and is the envy of other cities in Ohio. Just having a notebook on the rules for all 50 states for how to obtain a birth certificate is a wonderful resource. Linda put this together and updates it regularly. We have to applaud West Side Catholic for their willingness to assign staff/volunteers to this important collaboration. We have to thank the local foundations and City of Cleveland for funding this collaboration over the last few years. And we owe a debt of gratitude to Linda Stamm for organizing all of this. Good luck.

Brian
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New Rules for Receiving Identification

New BMV Rule Places Additional Burdens on Homeless

COHHIO is very concerned about a new rule adopted by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in September that places an undue and unfair burden on Ohio’s homeless population. The rule requires proof of residency to qualify for a driver’s license or state ID, effectively denying people who are homeless the ability to obtain this essential form of identification.

COHHIO has joined six other agencies in requesting that the acting registrar of motor vehicles issue a directive approving a signed, witnessed statement from an Ohioan without a residence as a genuine and reliable document under Administrative Code 4501:1-21 (H) (24); and that the BMV-approved statement form be issued to all BMV locations in order to be completed on site.
Under the new BMV rule, people who are living in cars, on abandoned property, on the streets, temporarily with friends or family, or in other nontraditional residency venues are prevented from obtaining the identification necessary to improve their lives. Because state photo IDs are required for employment, housing, health care services and registration for voting in person, homeless people are prevented from meeting their basic human needs.

The ability to produce identification is often the final step into subsidized housing, to a good paying job, or into a government office to clear up a problem with access to public benefits. By making it more difficult to obtain identification, the BMV is often extending the stay by Ohio residents at a shelter or on the streets and forcing communities to pay the additional costs associated with homelessness.

We feel that as currently written, this new residency rule places an additional and formidable burden on our state’s most vulnerable citizens. Look for updates in future issues of Breaking Ground (COHHIO's newsletter).

Editor's Note: This article appeared in the COHHIO newsletter today. NEOCH fully supports this advocacy effort, and has been active along with the Cleveland ID Collaborative to get the State of Ohio to see how harmful these new rules are toward homeless people. We will keep you up to date.

Brian Davis
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Homeless Denied Identification

The Identification Crisis Collaborative
*West Side Catholic Center * St. Colman’s Outreach Ministry * Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries- 2100 Lakeside Shelter for Men * NEOCH * Community Women’s Shelter – Mental Health Services * Care Alliance * St. Malachi Center * Project SAVE * The Church
* Catholic Charities – Bishop Cosgrove Center and Emergency Services at St. Augustine

Fiscal Agent: West Side Catholic Center, 3135 Lorain Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44113, www.helpcleveland.org

November 3, 2009
PRESS RELEASE

HOMELESS DENIED STATE PHOTO ID’S:
With No Proof of Residency Homeless Are Not Eligible for Jobs or Housing

As of October 8, 2009, people who are homeless and not living in shelters, are no longer eligible for state photo ID’s or drivers licenses because they have no proof of residency. Because state photo IDs are required for services including employment, housing and health care, these people cannot meet their basic human needs. This new mandate by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles prevents people who are living in their cars, abandoned property, on the streets, or any place where they cannot prove residency, from any chance of improving their lives.

The members of the Identification Crisis Collaborative are agencies that assist homeless and low income people to obtain their birth certificates and state photo IDs. They include homeless shelters, drop-in centers, churches, mental health services, and other agencies working with this population.

The process of acquiring a state photo ID is already fraught with Catch-22s. A birth certificate is required to get an ID, but in many states, you must send a copy of a state photo ID to get a birth certificate. People born in Cleveland can get their birth certificates at Cleveland City Hall, but a state photo ID is required to enter.

Now, all applicants for state photo IDs and drivers licenses must bring proof of residency – lease agreements, utility bills, etc., with them to the BMV, or leave and return with the documents. These regulations apply to everyone, but are particularly difficult barriers for the elderly, disabled, homeless and low income citizens.

Jim Schlecht, Outreach Worker for Care Alliance, which provides health care and help for people who are homeless, stated, “This new rule is keeping people homeless and a continuing burden on the community. It doesn’t make sense.” He is currently trying to assist someone who stays around E. 9th and Superior. This person, who is homeless and has no residence, has been sober for almost a year and wants to get off the streets. He has the opportunity to get a HUD subsidized apartment, but he cannot prove he has a current residence so that he can get a state photo ID. Because HUD requires a state photo ID, he is being denied the apartment.

Brian Davis, Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, stated, “The fundamental expression of American democracy is voting, and Ohio requires identification for those who want to vote in person on election day. These new rules will make homeless people into second class citizens on election day, unable to vote in person.”

Gerald Skoch, Executive Director of the West Side Catholic Center which operates a drop-in center for people who are homeless, stated, “The residency requirement is yet another burden placed upon the indigent and homeless striving for self sufficiency. The unintended consequences of this type of regulation are significant and usually overlooked. In our efforts to achieve greater safety and security we trample on the hopes of the marginalized.”

Eileen Kelly, Outreach Minister from St. Colman Church, stated, “Even if the homeless can’t prove their existence to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, we know that the men and women who are most affected by these new unreasonable requirements do exist. We meet them every single day at our doors and struggle with them to break down the barriers to work, to decent housing, to basic human services. By building these new barriers to obtaining official ID, it seems to us that the Ohio BMV is now in the business of preventing some of our most vulnerable neighbors from providing for themselves, from working, from living in decent housing, from voting.”

Signed:
Francis Afram-Guyaning, Executive Director of CARE Alliance
Brian Davis, Executive Director of Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless
Gail Doucette, Director of Catholic Charities Emergency Assistance
Carol Fredrich, Executive Director of Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry – 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter
Eileen Kelly, Director of St. Colman Church Outreach Ministry
Susan Neth, Executive Director of Mental Health Services – Community Women’s Shelter
Gerald Skoch, Executive Director of West Side Catholic Center

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