NEWSBYJESSICA ROWSHANDEL

Last time I checked, America was a developed country. And last time I checked, Starbucks wasn't donating five cents per bottle of Ethos water sold in order to hydrate thirsty American families, because Americans have access to water, right? It's always some other people in some other country that go thirsty. Not that I'm dogging Starbucks or anyone's efforts to bring food or water to people who need it the most, but I was shocked to learn that right here in North America there are people dying of thirst — homeless people.

In Maricopa County, Arizona, for example, the county's homeless accounted for 19 percent of heat-related deaths in 2009. Though many of the deaths occurred indoors, in private residences, the homeless and the poor have the least access to protections like water, shelter and cool air.

Risk factors for heat-related deaths include homelessness, age (the very young or older adults), mental health or medical conditions, poverty, overexertion, social isolation and lack of air conditioning. The homeless are poor, sometimes have a mental health or a medical condition, could be socially isolated and most likely lack access to air conditioning. The odds are against them. Some Maricopa County heat-related deaths occurred on the street, in a car and in the desert. It's safe to assume that these were mostly unhoused people.

Imagine dying in the desert, alone, sucked dry like an apricot because you didn't have access to enough water or a home. Staying hydrated and cool during summer months while homeless is a challenge because it's not so easy when there's not even a faucet accessible.

While South Africa is trying to hide the homeless from World Cup tourists, sparing them contact with the usual street clutter of homeless people and their debris, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil is getting ready to host the 8th Homeless World Cup. The week-long event will take place September 19-26, 2010. Sixty-four teams from around the world, all homeless soccer players, will be vying for the championship, all in the name of ending homelessness in every nation.

What happy news. Not only does it show tremendous international solidarity — a strange concept in a world plagued by war, terrorism and human rights abuses — but it's also a global display of self-efficacy and self-empowerment. Hundreds of unhoused people from around the globe are changing the world for themselves and each other through soccer. Although they have big names like Nike and the United Nations behind them, they are major and active participants in their own change. This is critical considering the patronizing history of social worker-as-savior, the idea that someone from a "better" class must exact socially acceptable behavior, and for the poor's own good.

This more socially inclusive approach — using sports to create lasting social change — seems to be working. A popular program here in New York City is Harlem RBI, which uses sports to help empower underprivileged urban youth. Sports get people excited, housed or not. Over 30,000 unhoused people are hoping to be chosen to play in the Homeless World Cup. I can guarantee you that there aren't over 30,000 people around the globe banging down the doors of homeless shelters, social work offices or the offices of government agencies begging to be let in and molded into "better" humans.

Are some sex offenders feigning homelessness to get out of registering with authorities? Michigan law enforcement and lawmakers seem to think so. In Michigan, homeless sex offenders, by law, do not have to report their residences because of the transient nature of homelessness. Since February, when this law took effect, homelessness among sex offenders has jumped by 62 percent, according to the Grand Rapids Press.

In Grand Rapids, Michigan, there are 750 sex offenders, and eight report homelessness. Two hundred and sixty report homelessness statewide. Authorities are not sure how many are really unable to secure housing and how many are just avoiding supervision, school zone restrictions and tracking by communities.

A bill has passed that would require homeless sex offenders to register, but it has not yet become law. It would require homeless offenders to register their shelter addresses, intersections or approximate locations. The concern, however, is that some of the homeless frequently move from location to location, indoor or outdoor, and it's not easy to keep updating an address, even if it's just an intersection.

While some feel that we have to pick out all the "bad apples" among us, it's impossible to control everything. No system will ever be perfect, so should all homeless sex offenders, many of whom are not pedophiles, be forced to register their addresses because of a few liars?

It took me a while to understand why my church youth group was having a special holiday party for "motel kids." Come to think of it, I don't even know if I even understood what homelessness was at that age. Unfortunately, while I was busy and privileged, learning long division and conveniently not having a clue about social injustice, these kids were learning about homelessness firsthand, longing, I'm sure, to trade in their field experience for a home and a childhood.

It's quite sad to think that I first learned about motel kids nearly two decades ago, and the story remains the same — families continue to experience homelessness at rates that dumbfound politicians who spend decade after decade promising to fix this problem. What's worse and more nonsensical is that motel rooms are one of the most expensive solutions to homelessness around.

CBS recently aired a story about motel kids in Salinas, California. CBS followed two boys, Tristen and Gus, for about a year, and within this time, Tristen's family moved into an apartment. Unfortunately, Gus's family is still living in the motel, the "hell on earth," in 11 year-old Tristen's words.

It's ironic, saddening and pathetic that our nation allows the very people who help feed and nourish us to raid the garbage to find any sort of nourishment for themselves. Homeless farm workers are among the newly visible homeless population in California. This is the first time they haven't been able to afford to even rent a room, according to researcher Anna Garcia.

Who or what is to blame? We are.

It seems that in response to the gigantic carbon kick (too severe to be a mere footprint) we have taken at the earth, the sky has been greedy with its snow, but ferocious with flooding rains, enough to create a four-year long drought across the entire state, predicted to last until halfway through this century. Scary.

What this means for skilled and experienced farm workers is that hundreds of thousands of orchards are closed down, now referred to as abandonadas, abandoned. Some of the farm workers are abandonadas tambien. They are abandoned, too, and finding shelter within the orchards' gnarly trees. Some workers are able to scrape together a little cash by doing yard work or redeeming bottles and cans.

The double whammy of homelessness and schizophrenia is a crime, apparently.

Robert "Simon" Gilmore has been in jail over 100 times for misdemeanors because no one has figured out a better way to help him. He lives on the streets of Lawrence, Kansas, and is likely the inspiration of a city ordinance prohibiting "public camping," more commonly known as sleeping on a sidewalk. Accustomed to the repetition in injustice, he has been known to request extended jail time, instead of having to get rearrested, yet again, once released.

Gilmore, 52, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and blindness, has been the topic of discussion in the local paper for years now, and the story seems to remain the same. He's considered the town eccentric, donning white socks on his hands and obstructing traffic because he can't really see where he is going. Gilmore hasn't showed an interest in mental health services, despite outreach from Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, nor has he shown interest in the housing options that have been offered to him.

Some are concerned that he is an indefatigable nuisance who's done nothing but cost local taxpayers about $250,000 over the last decade. But don't blame Gilmore. He didn't cause the cuts to state mental healthcare budgets that have made paranoid schizophrenia a crime, for instance. Local police, however, are not mental healthcare providers and realize that jail is not a long-term solution. Yet, no one knows what to do to help Gilmore. Does Gilmore even need help? I wonder.

He isn't the first or only person to find himself in this predicament. And it's not quite clear to me if he feels he is even in one, although I could glean that he might tire of the constant arrests. His story reminds me of similarly legendary, Heavy, the last homeless man in Times Square, who has declined housing and services year after year. Are social service providers wasting their breath with Heavy and Gilmore?

If you think being the victim of intimate-partner or family violence is a raw deal, how about being forced into homelessness because of it? Imagine being battered by your partner, and then getting evicted because you were perceived as a nuisance by your neighbors — your wails, a cacophony. You will be penalized for making calls to the police, asking for help one too many times. Because of you, the quality of life in the community is going down. You must have done something to spark the abuse, so the eviction is your fault, anyway. Take responsibility for it and leave quickly.

For many, this is not a hypothetical situation. Property owners and landlords can evict people, forcing them into homelessness, because they perceive the abuse as a threat to the quality of life and safety of their communities.

Intimate-partner and family violence is a leading cause of homelessness for women and children, and housing discrimination only increases the numbers. Although intimate-partner and family violence does not discriminate according to gender, class, race or creed, it is more pervasive among women with low-incomes and those who rent, so these evictions are inherently, and unfairly, targeted toward less economically-empowered groups, also overrepresented by women of color and immigrants.

However, survivors gained federal support through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which protects survivors from many things, including housing discrimination. Landlords cannot evict them or preclude them from housing based on their current or history of abuse. Yet, because VAWA is federal legislation, jurisdiction only includes federal housing programs. Protection for those seeking or living in private rentals is nearly non-existent.

Also, immigrants without green cards are not eligible for federal housing be

According to Arthritis Care & Research, most women who wear high heels suffer from foot pain. Really? I had no idea. As obvious as this finding seems, I find that whenever I hear solutions from homeless advocates about how to prevent and end homelessness, they seem equally obvious. The advocates are not obtuse, but water cannot penetrate a stone. Most policymakers are slow in catching up to what advocates have been flooding them with for years.

For example, the American Psychological Association (APA) will present at today's Congressional Briefing on Ending Homelessness. Its recommendations are based on the fact that housing, alone, is not enough to sustain a formerly-homeless person in need of mental health services (or any other services for that matter). Rather, a person's entire world of needs should be addressed, and if this includes a need and want for mental health services, then this should be included. Social workers have been saying this for years.

It seems like the APA is filling in the gaping holes that policymakers have drilled into their own policies. They have run with Rapid Rehousing Programs across the country, which require strong aftercare programs to help some formerly-homeless individuals sustain housing; yet, I am figuring out that implementation of this is not the norm, hence the APA's recommendations.

After the initial shock of reading the story of Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, who was killed while trying to prevent a mugging in Queens, New York, I couldn't help but remember the last episode of that gloriously cynical sitcom Seinfeld, where the four main characters were arrested and jailed for breaking the Good Samaritan Law in a small Massachusetts town. The law required citizens to "help or assist anyone in danger as long as it is reasonable to do so." They faced jail time and a fine of $85,000. The fantastical American law was modeled after the French version, which held paparazzi accountable for taking photos of Princess Diana's critically injured body, instead of assisting her, after the car accident that resulted in her death.

This begs the question, should the 25 people who walked past a dying Tale-Yax be held legally accountable for his death? Even if we give most of them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they thought he was asleep, then at the very least shouldn't we arrest the man who shook Tale-Yax repeatedly or the one who took a photo on his cellphone?

This story became international news for a reason. It's exceptionally despicable. Most developed countries have "duty to rescue" laws, but as the Seinfeld group's attorney, Jackie Chiles, so accurately stated when he learned of their arrest, "You don't have to help anybody. That's what this country's all about."

As awful as it is when people lose their homes, it's even worse when they have pets, which many consider to be non-human family members. Most shelters don't allow pets, so people face an impossible choice. If they keep the pets, they'll all be on the street. If they give up the animals, euthanasia is likely.

Last week, I attended Earth Day: Animal Law Symposia 2010 at Albany Law School and discussed the many complex issues facing homeless humans and their animal family members with animal law attorney Cia Bruno. We discussed the problem and the solution.

In the event of trauma, like homelessness, a family unit, human and non-human, should remain together to cope with the trauma and grieve. How would you feel if you and your life partner became homeless and were forced to live in separate rooms in different parts of a building until you obtained housing?

It's not that homeless shelter providers are trying to be malicious, but when the issue is addressed from a human and animal rights perspective instead of a homeless services perspective, things are handled a little differently. Our homeless services systems are embedded within our culture, which follows a certain paradigm, one that doesn't much accept or understand homelessness. Also, it ranks the value and importance of human animals above non-human ones, therefore, not realizing the depth of the familial bond between species.

To solve this problem, we must open shelters that will keep families together and not separate them according to species.