PHOENIX — A partnership between the Homeless ID Project and the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division is enabling clients at the Human Services Campus near downtown Phoenix to get replacement state-issued IDs without having to travel several miles to the nearest MVD office.

Clients experiencing instability or homelessness can now get IDs, which are essential for obtaining services and employment, in a campus office set up with the computer equipment, printer, scanner and camera. Staffed 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. Monday through Friday by an MVD representative, the office can be converted to a TeleMVD office in which customers can conduct many transactions with representatives located elsewhere.

“Clients who come to us for replacement ID services encounter one more barrier when faced with the 45-minute bus ride to the nearest MVD office. Now with MVD services available on campus, that barrier is removed. This is a huge win for our clients,” said Homeless ID Project Executive Director Rick Mitchell.

Eric Jorgensen, ADOT Motor Vehicle division director, was excited to be able to use technology to meet people’s needs.

“This is another great opportunity where MVD can serve the community in ways previously not possible,” Jorgensen said. “This partnership is a first step in using technology to expand our reach and get services to the place they are needed at the moment our customers need them.”

Eric Ortega, Homeless ID Project’s director of programs, said this program provides a much better option than trying to transport groups of people to MVD offices, especially during summer.

“Providing services to our clients experiencing homelessness in our office and meeting them where they’re at will make an enormously positive difference in obtaining identification,” Ortega said. “This will cut out the bus trips and waiting in the extreme summer heat as well as making it easier for the most vulnerable amongst the vulnerable to be assisted without the fear they can’t make it to an MVD office of their own. We are so appreciative to the MVD for making this happen and we know it will change our clients’ lives for the better.”

During 2022, Homeless ID Project provided 12,143 documents, including 8,000 state-issued IDs and 4,000 replacement copies of birth certificates from all 50 states, from their office in the Brian Garcia Welcome Center on the Human Services Campus and in outreach programs across Maricopa and Pima counties.

Editor's note: The above was republished from a Homeless ID Project news release.