If you do not have a physical address (e.g., live on a boat / in an RV), our local DMV will tell you to use the street address of a local homeless shelter.

This probably won't get you past the requirement of utility bills in your name at that address to get a "Real ID" that allows domestic flights without a passport, though.

Same thing for getting a PO box, you need a physical address first. The post office will tell you the same thing, to use the address of a homeless shelter.

The folks writing these laws do not live in vans, and do not care, nor even think about the impact of their actions on folks with alternative living arrangements / folks poorer than they are.

What if you're living in a van because #vanlife and you want to drive around the country nomadically for a couple years and not because you are actually financially qualified to be homeless?

Like, what if you are a millionaire living in a fancy RV driving around national parks for a couple years?

Then you get a mail forwarding service, which gives you a proper "permanent" mailing address. DDG for "rv mail forwarding" for many options.

Which doesn't fulfill the utility bill requirement.

Just get the utilities bills sent to your mailbox.

At the very least you can definitely get your bank statements sent there ...

The utility bills for the utilities you don't have? The whole point is you don't have a fixed address that requires utilities.

I’ve used my cell phone bill as my utility bill no problem.

Former van-denizen here. I always used friends' addresses (with their permission, for a limited amount of time) when I needed to get important docs or plates. Usually it's not too hard to find someone to let you receive some mail at their house. Utility bills were always a problem for me, but there are usually ways around. Proof of filing a tax return in-state is enough in most cases, even if you're not "at" that address anymore.

Then you rent a $500/mo bedroom somewhere, sleep in it once so it's not fraud to call it your residence, and have the roommates put the utilities in your name.

Now you have a residence address and utility bills in your name to your residence address, and you can get a driver's license there, just like a real boy.

Fair, but do people actually do this?

Is there a $100/mo closet I can rent for that purpose or does it have to be $500/mo bedroom? What's the smallest one can go?

People actually do this.

Do you really think wealthy people (who are naturally at risk of kidnapping, extortion, blackmail, threats against family, etc) have their driver's license address pointing to the place where their children sleep at night?

The DMV gives those records in bulk to third parties. It's as good as public. Additionally, every dumbfuck services vendor from a gym to a daycare to a doctor's office will demand to photocopy your ID card to provide service, and you can be damn well sure that they aren't doing a good job protecting that information. They're storing it on their malware-ridden front desk Windows computer along with everyone else's.

As far as $100/mo vs $500/mo: what's the difference? It's all under $10k/year. Who cares?

$400/mo invested in some shitcoins and NFTs could easily make you more than $10k/year.

The DMV typically needs a proof of residency because you're only allowed to have one state license - the one for the state of which you're a resident.

What’s inherently wrong with being licensed in multiple states?

> What’s inherently wrong with being licensed in multiple states?

Presenting, and having infraction points assigned to, different licenses for traffic offenses.

Using nonresident states to avoid license restrictions in the state of residency.

In many places in the US it's de-facto illegal to live in a van, in some places it's explicitly illegal. Even if the van is parked on private property it'd still be illegal to be your primary residence due to zoning. There are exceptions for RVs and boats because they have sleeping, cooking and toilet facilities (which are required to be built a certain way).

In many places your driver license is used as authoritative identification for many other things, and the assumption is that those things require this additional verification. I don't know, but I think registering to vote might be one of these things in some places (it's been a while since I registered).

Side note: Why don't we have national ID in the US?

I know many people don't want us to risk becoming a "show your papers" country, but A) We already kinda are (ever been pulled over?), and B) It just makes more sense to have something like ID be centralized, preferably with a much better model then SSN's.

There's a long weird history of this; the bottom line is that interest groups on all political sides hate it:

1. The ACLU-style left fear it will lead to more pervasive, easier surveillance, and more "papers please" style checks on poor people and immigrants.

2. The right hates it because it's an extension of government power, arguably a 10th amendment violation, and it would greatly simplify voting for people who traditionally vote democrat.

3. A nontrivial number of people believe (no-joke) that it would be a portent of the apocalypse, relating to the number of the beast in the book of revelation. This actually came up in a number of state legislatures as they standardized drivers licenses after 9/11.

The few polls I've ever seen actually say it's fairly popular with people, but those interest groups are non trivial.

There are federal IDs in the US, of several varieties. But people are not required to have one.

People mainly rely on their state drivers licenses because states regulate driving. (And most other day-to-day government interactions that require ID)

If you’re the authority asking for ID, you get to decide which one to ask for.

But SSN numbers already exist

Except knowing them is used as not just authentication, but authorization so you have to be careful using them as ID.

Also, there are collisions.

If you live in a vehicle/RV it can be hard to prove residence. I've used UPS Store boxes but most places have caught on to that and don't allow it anymore. I've been told you can use a homeless shelter as the residence and a box as a mailing address but haven't tried it myself.

What about other lesser-known private mail boxes?

They are all required to register as a personal mailbox company (PMB). States have DBs of these addresses and use them to filter out boxes.

In the states I've lived in, licenses and ids required proof of residency. If you can't prove you live in the state, you're not getting one.