Calif. Gives Homeless No-Cost IDs To Increase Social Services Access

A new state law (AB 1733) aims to help homeless individuals obtain official birth certificates and California identification cards that are required to access certain social services, including those for mental health care, the Sacramento Bee reports (Crane, Sacramento Bee, 7/16).

Details of AB 1733

AB 1733 -- by Assembly members Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton), Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Brian Maienschein (R-San Diego) -- provides homeless individuals with no-cost ID cards and birth certificates (Parvini, KCET, 6/25).

The law went into effect on July 1.

Typically, birth certificates cost $28 per copy and original ID cards cost $26 or $8 for certain low-income individuals, according to the Bee.

IDs To Increase Access to Services

John Bauters, policy director of Housing California, said the law will help homeless people access social services and assistance programs (Sacramento Bee, 7/16).

For example, Quirk-Silva said, "We are making sure [homeless people] have IDs to access the services to get back on [their] feet -- either social services or mental health services" (KCET, 6/25).

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