“You don’t need a home to vote.”
Voting is a right and a cornerstone of democracy. One often overlooked barrier to voting access is housing instability and the experience of homelessness.
According to Vote.gov yes, people experiencing homelessness can vote. But each state and territory have its own voter ID rules. Some require proper identification, while others don’t.
In Ohio, claims that people experiencing homelessness cannot vote are false. People experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness can vote using addresses from temporary shelters or a place where they receive mail.
Yet, substantial barriers exist to people registering, updating their housing location, and providing proper identification. Often identification that is lost, stolen, or destroyed in encampment sweeps.
In order to vote, people must attain an Ohio identification card. If they can provide their name, date of birth, address, and the last four digits of their social security number.
For many years, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has been assisting homeless service providers with information on how to help people experiencing homelessness register to vote. The National Coalition for the Homeless, too, keeps providers and potential voters informed of the voting process by state.
Information that changes on a state-by-state basis and often based on newly enacted laws.
In Utah, for example, people can vote using a park address. In other states, like Georgia, laws are being enacted to “challenge a person’s voting eligibility if that person lives at a nonresidential address”. Addresses including shelters, nursing homes, and dorms.
In Iowa, “A lot of people don’t know that they can vote if they’re unhoused.” Local groups are working to change that. In California, a woman with lived experience of homelessness is passionate about ensuring people sleeping unsheltered know their right to vote.
While experiencing unsheltered homelessness, she continued to vote. “It means a lot every year.” According to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, “People can register to vote, they can list the cross street where they spend the most of their time, where they lay their head at night.”
Housing affordability issues on ballots across the U.S.
Millions of people in the U.S. can’t afford to buy a home – or pay rent – making housing a central issue. Housing unaffordability is getting a spotlight in presidential candidates’ policy proposals, which shows how important the issue is to voters.
And many voters are frustrated with the lack of solutions.
As you know, measures impacting – or even criminalizing – homelessness are often on the ballot. Even though the leading cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing, many still blame homelessness on mental health or substance abuse issues.
While working to prevent and end homelessness, focus must also be given to preserving existing affordable housing inventory for renters and building new.
