I have not given much of an update on the homeless man that I have been helping. This is more of a reflection of my laziness than a lack of things happening.
Thanks to the Friendship House, he was able to get his birth certificate from New York. This took 2 months. Since then, we have been trying to get documents that will allow him to get a State ID. This is very hard for a homeless man. The State wants him to prove his residency with utility bills. Homeless people don’t get utility bills. Any suggestions are appreciated.
On the homefront, the home that he was living in (as a guest) has been rented, so he is back to living in the woods. I am running out of ideas. I even called the YMCA to see if he could live there. A room at the Y costs $130/week (less if you sign a lease). For a place to stay for a week or two, that might have been fine. However, guess what you need to live there? An ID. When I discussed this with the guy at the Y, he sounded quite discouraged by the situation that the guy finds himself in.
I bought him a DART Card, so now he is somewhat mobile. Previously, he had gotten bus passes from the Friendship House, but they will give you 8 passes at a time (and they are usually out of them). To get to DMV to try to get his ID, he would have to change buses each way, so 4 of his 8 cards were wiped out to get rejected at DMV. Now at least he can get around if there is some work in Wilmington.
Speaking of work, he has applied in a few places. This is a gamble. Since he doesn’t have ID, if one of these places calls him back, he likely will have to decline the job, since he is undocumented. Not that they can actually call him back, since he has no phone. But he does check in with the places every other day or so.