It’s easy for homeless people to lose key documents. Cabinets in Kearny Mesa now offer safe storage.

Inside a two-story office building in Kearny Mesa, through an entrance that requires a key card and past two more locked doors, sit six filing cabinets.

Each requires an additional key to open. They are fireproof and waterproof. And as of July, they’re available to hold sensitive documents for thousands of people living outside.

The new ID Bank, overseen by the local nonprofit Think Dignity, aims to address one of the biggest problems associated with homelessness: The myriad ways people can easily lose the very records they need to secure jobs and housing.

“Having documents, it isn’t just to get access to services,” said Merlynn Watanabe, Think Dignity’s director of community engagement and communications. “It’s to remind themselves that they are human.”

Birth certificates. Driver’s licenses. Prescriptions. All it takes is a heavy rainstorm, quiet thieves or an aggressive clean-up crew to sweep those away. One group of homeless residents in East County recently filed a lawsuit against several government agencies, alleging that their belongings were being illegally carted away.

While some organizations throughout the county already offer storage to people on the street, this significantly expands what’s available.

Homeless people interested in keeping...