Kansas City adopts photo ID plan to help homeless and others without documentation

Homeless people, ex-convicts and others who might not have access to birth certificates or other documents necessary to get a state-issued photo ID card will benefit from a new municipal ID program approved Thursday by the Kansas City Council.

The city’s new Fountain Card will be free and give people access to city services open only to residents, such as free brush pickup and access to pools and community centers.

They can also be used to establish bank accounts at participating financial institutions, which will be a boon to employers who now find themselves forced to pay some workers in cash because those employees don’t have bank accounts and find it difficult and expensive to cash their paychecks.

Mayor Quinton Lucas said the program would have been a godsend to people like his mother, who was born in Kansas City but did not have a birth certificate that would allow her to get a state-issued ID.

“It was more challenging, oddly enough, as she got older to get certain identity documents,” Lucas said, “and what did that mean? Not having access to banking, right? More challenges for her family, any number of things, school registration, etc.”

The state issues photo ID cards to people who do not have a driver’s license, either because they don’t want or can’t qualify for one. Documents needed to get a state ID include proof of citizenship or immigration documents indicating the applicant’s status.

You need a state-issued ID to vote. A city ID won’t work.

But getting a Fountain Card will be easier than getting a state ID. There is a long list of documents the city will accept proving you are who you say you are — and that you live in Kansas City. They include utility bills, school yearbooks, work and school ID cards, payroll stubs, credit card bills and more.

Officials say the card could double as a library card and be used on public transit, if and when the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority installs some kind of screening system for customers on the free system. It would also be helpful to parents when enrolling their children in school.

Immigration issue not raised

In heralding the new program, Kansas City officials have barely mentioned another group that would benefit from having a government ID that they could secure without having a valid drivers license, passport or Social Security number:

Immigrants who are in the county illegally or have the right to be here while awaiting the outcomes of their asylum claims.

Immigrants have been at the center of the discussion when other cities have adopted their own photo ID systems, including New York City, Detroit and Los Angeles.

But Lucas, co-sponsor of the ordinance that initiated the program, and other city officials supportive of it have made little mention of immigrants in the several public meetings where it has come up since March.

That didn’t change when the council voted 10-1 Thursday authorizing the city’s health department to set up and administer the program. For the third time in council and committee votes on the measure, Councilwoman Heather Hall was the lone no vote and offered no explanation.

Hall did not respond to requests for comment.

About as far as Lucas has gone was to use a euphemism for immigrants in a tweet on June 29 explaining the origin of his effort to initiate a municipal ID program. He said it began after he was approached four years ago by “advocates for our New American community; in homelessness outreach; and those seeking better services for all….”

In a text exchange with The Star, Lucas’ chief of staff, Morgan Said, acknowledged that the city’s ID cards “would be available to non-documented residents.” She denied that her boss was avoiding references to immigrants without documentation.

Two people active in the immigration rights movement told The Star that it is understandable why city officials might be reluctant to discuss the issue given what happened to the ID program approved last year by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.

Weeks after KCK’s Safe and Welcoming City Act, which included the ID program, was approved in February 2022, the Republican-dominated Kansas Legislature passed a bill blocking the program. The bill included a provision not in Kansas City’s ordinance that would have prevented the United Government from helping the federal government enforce immigration laws.

The state’s Democratic governor, Laura Kelly, then signed the bill into law.

Kansas City leaders would be right to worry about similar pushback from Jefferson City over the Fountain Card program, said Marcus Winn, director of voter engagement at More2, an affiliation of religious organizations working in support of social justice issues.

“If we can’t count on Gov. Kelly, I don’t know why we would think Gov. Parson would be more reliable,” said Winn, referring to Missouri’s Republican governor, Mike Parson. “From a gut level, it makes sense to me why they might be downplaying it.”

Judy Ancel, president of the Cross-Border Network for Justice & Solidarity in KCK, also said that Kansas City officials were wise not to focus on immigrants as a group that might benefit from the ID program. Missouri officials might be motivated to follow Kansas’ lead and pre-empt it.

“It’s the fear that public officials have that, you know, it’s going to turn into some battle royale, which they’re going to lose because they don’t have the power to be able to set their own agenda as Kansas City, Missouri, has learned with this police budget,” she said.

Other than in replies to tweets that Lucas has posted in the past few weeks promoting the Fountain Card plan, no opposition has surfaced so far.