2023 In Review: Community Impact Report
RESULTS
On an average day in 2023, Homeless ID Project Program Staff:
• Saw 90 clients
• Provided 60 documents including replacement IDs and birth certificates • Safely stored vital documents for 25 individuals
• Met with an additional 5 clients with an ID-related inquiry of some sort
Because of your support in 2023, the Homeless ID Project assisted 22,846 clients resulting in the successful replacement of 15,622 documents.
In 36 years of operation, we have never helped so many. The term success comes to mind and yet real success would look more like zero documents due to zero need. The Homeless ID Project’s Mission is to END homelessness. An ID is the critical first step in the process that provides the required documents that are essential to gain employment, housing, and other basic services necessary to end homelessness.
ADVOCACY
Our Advocacy work continued in 2023 with a bill sponsored by State Representative Matt Gress. The bill, providing a waiver of the $12 fee for a State ID for those experiencing homelessness in Arizona and an MVD office in the Homeless ID Project office, failed.
Despite this, and because of the relationship we’ve built with the Arizona Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), an MVD Customer Service Representative was assigned to our office effective July 31, 2023. This is a huge win for our clients who will no longer be required to take a 45-minute bus ride to the nearest MVD office!
A WIDER FOCUS
The work of ending homelessness is greatly aided by preventing individuals from entering homelessness and in 2023 we spent some of our time focused there.
• In one of our outreach programs we helped more than 1,000 individuals gain documents needed post-incarceration to rebuild their life, to avoid falling into homelessness or reoffending.
• We expanded outreach services, providing 4,300 documents in partner agencies across Maricopa and Pima Counties.
We continued our focus on prevention of homelessness by providing the resource of a legally valid ID needed to open opportunities not available without proof of identity.
THE VALUE OF PARTNERSHIP
Being partner-centric is essential to fulfilling the Mission of ending homelessness. It is also one of our Seven Core Values. Our partnership with ‘Keys to Change’ (formerly Human Services Campus, Inc.), Family Housing Hub, the Tucson Center of Opportunity, and each of our partner agencies makes our work both possible and effective.
In 2023, we supported the work of more than 50 partner agencies across Maricopa and Pima Counties, assuring that their clients had the required documents needed to take advantage of programs for housing, shelter, medical care, and more.
SOCIAL RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Providing replacement documents creates a measurable and demonstrable result in our community. According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), the cost of homelessness to the community is $30,000 to $50,000 per unhoused person per year. Each individual acquiring an ID, supported by your donations, now has access to available employment and housing.
Of course, not every client brings an immediate end to their homelessness, but if a mere 10% of 15,622 client documents in 2023 resulted in this end, your donations, in support of this work, resulted in a savings to the community of $46.5 million dollars! (15,622 x 10% x $30,000 = $46.8 million)
Furthermore, we did this work with total expenses of $550,000 resulting in a return on your investment in this work of $85 for every single dollar invested! ($46.8 million divided by $550,000 in Expenses = $85.09)
Another of our Seven Core Values is this: We recognize and value the support of the community and pledge to be good stewards of that support. We believe that a return of $85 per dollar invested in this work, turning a $400 tax credit into a $34,000 return, is a serious demonstration of that value.
Thank you sincerely for your continued support! We look forward to working with you in 2024.
